NRA's approval is underwater for the 1st time and Trump's is dropping in new Fox News poll

Trump speaks at the NRA&#039;s annual conference

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

President Trump is approaching record disapproval and the National Rifle Association has a net negative favorability rating for the first time in a Fox News poll released Wednesday night. The poll, conducted a week after back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shows the NRA with a favorability rating of 42 percent among registered voters, down from 49 percent in 2018; 47 percent hold unfavorable views of the organization.

Along with facing a rise in support for stricter gun laws, which the NRA opposes, the gun-rights group is mired in an ugly internecine fight over lavish spending on its leaders and allegations of insider dealing. In the new poll, 56 percent of voters in gun-owner households held a favorable view of the NRA, down from 67 percent last year.

Trump's approval rating is 43 percent, down from 46 percent in a Fox News poll last month, and 56 percent of voters now disapprove of his job performance, just shy of his record disapproval rating of 57 percent recorded in October 2017. "Record numbers of men (53 percent), white men (46 percent), and independents (64 percent) disapprove," Fox News notes. Fifty-nine percent of voters agree that Trump is "tearing the country apart," including 59 percent of independents, 53 percent of white voters, and 74 percent of non-white voters. A 51 percent majority disapproves of Trump's tweeting, while just 16 percent approve.

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The poll was conducted Aug. 11-13 via phone by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Co. (R) among 1,013 registers voters nationwide. It has a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points for all registered voters.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.