Wednesday's Campaign Round-Up, 4.5.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* The latest national Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday, showed Donald Trump's approval rating dropping to just 35%. Over the course of eight years, the lowest Barack Obama reached in Quinnipiac polling was 38% -- and that came five years into his presidency, not three months.* On a related note, a month ago, Quinnipiac found Trump with a 91% approval rating among Republicans. Two weeks ago, that number fell to 81%. Now, it's 79%. A 12-point drop for a president from voters within his own party, in just one month, generally isn't a good sign.* In Georgia's upcoming congressional special election, now less than two weeks away, the NBC affiliate in Atlanta commissioned a SurveyUSA poll that found Jon Ossoff (D) ahead in the multi-candidate field with 43% support, followed by several Republicans who are roughly 30 points behind him. If Ossoff gets a majority in the first round of balloting, there won't be a runoff in June.* In yesterday's primary in California's congressional special election, it looks like State Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D) and former Los Angeles City Planning Commissioner Robert Lee Ahn (D) will face each other in a runoff, hoping to succeed Xavier Becerra in Congress.* Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), rumored to be eyeing a 2020 presidential campaign, summarized her approach to public service this way in an interview with New York magazine, "[W]e're here to help people, and if we're not helping people, we should go the f**k home."* James Knowles III was re-elected as mayor of Ferguson, Mo., yesterday. It was the first mayoral election in Ferguson since the Michael Browning shooting in August 2014.* And speaking of Midwestern mayoral races, Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar (R) in Illinois just barely held onto his office yesterday, facing a backlash after he hosted a Donald Trump fundraiser last year. The longtime Chicago-area mayor nevertheless appears to have held on, winning by 62 votes.