Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a new all-time low, and public fears over his campaign’s contact with Russia during the 2016 election continue to ramp up.
Last week was a major one for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, with the first public arrests including Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Though Trump has steadfastly denied any collusion between his campaign and the Russian government, the general public appears to be much more concerned and has sent his approval rating into the basement.
That public worry showed up in CNN ‘s recent poll of Trump’s approval rating, which showed he dropped to an all-time low of 36 percent, with 58 percent disapproving of the job he has done.
The public apparently isn’t buying Trump’s statement that he knew of no collusion with Russia. A total of 59 percent of people polled say they believe Trump personally knew that people in his campaign had contact with suspected Russian operatives, and just 35 percent said they believe Trump did not know about the contacts.
Trump’s approval rating is at a new low as concerns about Russian election meddling grow, a new CNN poll finds https://t.co/lPFhF16M7W pic.twitter.com/ExfzJlNdqA
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 6, 2017
Those responding to the survey also do not buy Trump’s claims that the entire Russia investigation is just a witch hunt to harm his presidency.
“About two-thirds (64%) now say the investigation into Russian efforts to influence the US presidential election in 2016 is a serious matter that should be fully investigated, while just 32% see it as an effort to discredit Trump’s presidency. That figure is down from 38% saying so in August.”
While the CNN poll represents just one snapshot of Donald Trump’s approval rating, other polls find equally low numbers — with most reaching historic lows for this point in a presidency. An aggregation of polls from the website FiveThirtyEight found that Trump’s approval stands at just 37.7 percent — close to the lowest mark of his presidency — while disapproval is at 56.7 percent. With a string of legislative failures and other controversies aside from Russia, Trump has seen a steady decline in his approval ratings.
If Donald Trump’s approval rating is sinking due to the Russia investigation, then it could soon drop even more very soon. The start of this week brought new revelations, including a report that Trump campaign officials offered inside access to Trump to Russia in exchange for help with the election. As Business Insider noted, the revelation comes at a time when Mueller’s investigation appears to be circling in on Trump’s inner circle, though there is not yet any public evidence that the president may have been involved.
[Featured Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]