Trump's approval rating is abysmally low in swing districts, poll finds


There's trouble in swing country for President Trump.
Poll results released on Wednesday by Monmouth University show that voters in swing districts — where the margin between Trump and his 2016 presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton was less than 10 percentage points — actually disapprove of Trump's performance in the Oval Office at higher rates than voters in districts who supported Clinton by more than 10 percentage points.
The results appear to back up the Trump re-election campaign team's plan to focus heavily in areas like Michigan and Wisconsin, which were sites of some of the smallest gaps in the 2016 contest. Trump eked out surprising victories in both states.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, the Monmouth poll doesn't provide polling data from individual districts. That 31 percent approval rating is the aggregate of every district where the race was decided by less than 10 percentage points, some of which Clinton won. The poll also does not stipulate whether the voters who disapprove of Trump also refuse to vote for him in 2020 — the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Still, the results illustrate Trump's potential vulnerability.
The poll was conducted via telephone April 11-15, interviewing 801 U.S. adults. The total margin of error is 3.5 percentage points, though the margin of error in swing counties is 7.8 percentage points. See more results at Monmouth.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Why does Donald Trump keeping showing up at major sporting events?
Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
‘Democracy is under threat globally’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Job hugging: the growing trend of clinging to your job
In the Spotlight People are staying in their jobs longer than ever
-
Why does Donald Trump keeping showing up at major sporting events?
Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
‘Democracy is under threat globally’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purge
Speed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?
Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ouster
Speed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
Trump threatens critics with federal charges
Feature Days after FBI agents raided John Bolton's home, Trump threatened legal action against Chris Christie