Trump's approval rating tumbles 5 points following his Charlottesville response

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published 23 August 2017

President Trump's response to the Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist rally certainly didn't do his already dismal approval rating any favors. A Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday, and taken entirely after the violence in Charlottesville, showed Trump's approval rating at a new low of 39 percent. The week before Trump blamed "both sides" for the rally's violence and hesitated to directly condemn white supremacists, his approval rating sat 5 points higher, at 44 percent.

Notably, Trump's rating decline can be mostly attributed to self-identified Republican voters' waning approval: Trump's approval rating among Republicans dropped from 81 percent last week to 73 percent. His approval rating among Democrats and independents dipped just 1 point, though 71 percent of Democrats deemed the president's response to be "inappropriate."

On the whole, only 16 percent said that Trump's response was "unifying." On Tuesday night, Trump doubled down on his response, claiming the media had downplayed anti-fascist protesters' actions.