Eric Trump, who's ostensibly steering clear of politics and helping run his father's business, appeared on Fox News this week and boasted about Donald Trump's broad popularity. "My father has the voice of this country," he said. "The people of this country love him."
There's quite a bit of evidence to the contrary. In the latest Gallup daily tracking poll, released yesterday, Trump's approval rating fell to 36%, tying his lowest support to date. His disapproval rating, meanwhile, climbed to 60%, which is unheard of for a president who's only been in office for six months.
A Quinnipiac poll, also released yesterday, pointed in an even more discouraging direction for the White House.
President Donald Trump plunges to a new low as American voters disapprove 61 - 33 percent of the job he is doing, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. White men are divided 47 - 48 percent and Republicans approve 76 - 17 percent. White voters with no college degree, a key part of the president's base, disapprove 50 - 43 percent.Today's approval rating is down from a 55 - 40 percent disapproval in a June 29 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University. This is President Trump's lowest approval and highest disapproval number since he was inaugurated.
The closer one looks at the results, the worse they appear. Quinnipiac found that most Americans say they are embarrassed to have Trump as president, believe Trump is abusing the powers of his office, and see Trump as positioning himself as above the law.
In terms of the president's personal characteristics, the same survey found a majority of Americans agreeing that Trump is not levelheaded, not honest, lacking in leadership skills, and unconcerned with average Americans.
And while it's generally true that it's best not to focus too heavily on any individual poll, FiveThirtyEight found this week that Trump's average approval rating across all polling reached an all-time low, while his disapproval reached an all-time high.
The president himself recently insisted that his public standing is "not bad." That's plainly wrong.
The question, of course, is what Trump World intends to do about it. It's possible the new White House chief of staff will at least try to get the president and his team on a more sensible path, but as a matter of substance, Trump seems eager to move even further from the American mainstream, endorsing new anti-immigration measures, for example, and keeping pressure on Congress to pass a regressive and unpopular health care plan.
Don't assume, in other words, that he's reached his floor.