President Donald Trump's administration has been mired in controversy after controversy, from his racist remarks to the Mueller report--which stopped short of clearing him of obstruction of justice. His policies, such as child separation at the border and his trade wars with China, are divisive.
Yet, new numbers seem to show that he's actually more popular today than he was in 2016, according to polling expert Nate Cohn.
"The share of Americans who say they have a favorable view of him has increased significantly since the 2016 election," Cohn writes. "And over the last few months, some of the highest-quality public opinion polls, though not all, showed the president’s job approval rating — a different measure from personal favorability — had inched up to essentially match the highest level of his term."
This doesn't guarantee Trump re-election.
"The increase in his support since 2016, and the possibility that it continues to move higher, does not necessarily make him a favorite to win re-election. His job approval ratings remain well beneath 50 percent, and have never eclipsed it."
It should be noted that Cohn is relying on two polls, Gallup and YouGov, which show that he is more popular today than in 2016.
And according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, which aggregates polling data, only 42.2 percent of Americans polled approve of Donald Trump, while 53.1 disapprove.
But, Trump's surge in popularity since 2016 is clearly something his democratic challengers need to keep in mind.
"Of course, Democrats might benefit from a more popular candidate than they had in 2016," Cohn writes. "Hillary Clinton was an unusually unpopular candidate, surpassed only by Mr. Trump in this regard in the modern era of polling. But an analysis that freezes the president’s standing in 2016 but assumes an improvement for the Democratic nominee would be misleading."
