Poll Watch: All About the Donald

The folks at Quinnipiac released a poll  on February 21st that looked at national opinions on the president.

Here's a look at how we think things are going -- and we know, don't we, that how we think things are going isn't necessarily the way folks in Washington or in the statehouses think things are going, or how they act.

Small print stuff: the poll was conducted by live interviewers over land and cell phones from February 16 - 19, and included 1249 voters.

First up? Presidential approval.

• 37% of respondents approve of how the president is handling his job; only Republicans (86%) and white men (51%) have a higher percentage of approvers; all other demographics disapprove more than they approve.
• The 37% approval has fallen 3% since the February 7th survey.
• 67% of Republicans strongly approve of Trump's handling of his job; all other demographics strongly disapprove more than any of the other options (strongly disapprove, disapprove somewhat, approve somewhat, and don't know/NA).

Approval rates for Congressional Republicans, who of course have a majority in both houses, are even worse. 72% of respondents disapprove of the GOP in DC; in every age group, over 70% disapprove. The greatest disparity is with the 18 - 34 year olds, with a 64 point gap, 79% to 15%. Democrats (94%) and blacks (97%) disapprove the most - no surprise there.

Similarly, approval rates for Congressional  Democrats are not good, but slightly better -- 'only' 66% disapprove. And  while Republicans support the Congressional GOP 55% - 38%, Dems support their party in Congress only 53% - 41%. And for both parties, the disapproval rate is going in the wrong direction.

People don't like Trump (59%) more than they like him (37%): the same is true for Mike Pence (46% to 36%), Paul Ryan (51% to 28%), Nancy Pelosi (52% to 29%), and Mitch McConnell (51% to 15%).  Chuck Schumer would be appalled to know that 34% of respondents don't know enough about him to form an opinion; his disapproval rate is 37%.

Trump's policies are disliked by all but Republicans (89%) and white men (53%); as a person. only Republicans like him more than they dislike him. Even white men dislike him (51% to 40%).

When it comes to Trump's fitness for office, 57% think he's not fit. Republicans (90%) and white men (55%) think he is, as do whites without a college degree (57%).  Men overall are torn -- 49% say yes, 49% say no. Women (65%) and white women (58%) think he's not. 

Only Republicans believe Trump respects women just as much as he respects men (72% to 21%); everyone else - including all men (58%), white men (54%) and whites without a college degree (56%) disagree. 

How about the bonds of marriage?  Everyone -- every single demographic, even Republicans -- believes that loyalty to one's spouse is important. And every demographic except one thinks that president Trump has not been loyal to his wife. On this question, Republicans say yes, he's loyal to Melania (42%), no he hasn't been (14%) and 44% don't know. That 'don't know' percentage is 14% higher than for any other demographic. 

There were some other questions, about Rob Porter, Jared Kushner, and Russia, and the trends - all demographics except the usual suspects being on the negative side - were generally consistent on those questions as well. 

The last question was interesting: "As you may know, the definition of an autocrat is a ruler with absolute power.  Do you think that president Trump behaves more like an autocrat or do you think president Trump behaves more like a typical US president?"

• 56% overall think he acts like an autocrat.
• As you would expect, Republicans (76%) and white men (49%) think he acts like a typical president.

If you're the president, how would you respond to this overwhelmingly negative survey?  Officially announce your 2020 campaign!

This should have been  a shock to literally no one, since he filed the paperwork on the day he was inaugurated, has been holding campaign rallies for months (some blatant, some under the guise of being presidential), and the Republican National Committee has been paying rent -- in Trump Tower, of course -- for months. 

But hey  - when you have 158 million followers on social media, the sky's the limit!