President Trump's net approval rating took a hit just about everywhere last month, even in states that propelled him to the White House.
His net approval rating, which is calculated by subtracting his disapproval rating from his approval rating, dipped below zero in four key states last month: North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, and Florida, Morning Consult finds. These are all states he won in the 2016 election, with Ohio and Florida being particularly crucial. Had Hillary Clinton taken those two states in 2016 but the rest of the map stayed the same, Trump would have lost 259 to 279 electoral votes.
The president's net approval rating is below zero in nine states that he won in 2016, Bloomberg's James Greiff observes; in addition to the four previously mentioned, he's in the red in Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
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Morning Consult's Cameron Easley points out that Trump's net approval fell in 43 states in December, even in conservative states like Alabama and Tennessee; he fell seven points in both. A look back through Morning Consult's interactive map shows that Trump had a net positive approval rating in 38 states when he first took office. But that honeymoon period lasted barely four months, and as of last month, the number of states where his approval rating is higher than his disapproval rating is 21.
The good news for Trump, though, is that his rating has bounced back from below zero in a few states; North Carolina, for instance, was net negative on Trump in September but net positive in October and November.
Morning Consult compiled its data by speaking to more than 1 million U.S. voters since January 2017. The margin of error varies from 1 percentage point to 5 percentage points depending on the state.
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