Some of President Donald Trump's most loyal supporters are no longer rushing to his defense, according to a veteran Democratic pollster who said he watched it happen in real time.
Cornell Belcher, who polled for Barack Obama's campaigns and for the Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean, described the scene on the Lincoln Project's "The Elephant in the Room" polling show. He said he recently conducted focus groups out West that included Trump supporters, and that when criticism of the president came up, they didn't push back the way they always had before.
"This is something that I've been doing for several years, and I've never seen this happen before," Belcher said.
In past sessions, he said, Trump's "die-hard" backers would find a way to defend him no matter how ridiculous the action in question. This time, they went quiet.
"You could see the Trump supporters in the room start staring off into the distance, and not rallying around him, or looking down, looking away," he said. "They are not engaging."
Belcher said he hasn't seen a collapse like Trump's, with the possible exception of 2006, and that this one is different. George W. Bush remained personally likable to many voters even as his job approval sank, he said, while the intensity of voters' dislike for Trump is as high as he has ever seen for a president.
The discussion comes as Trump's approval has sunk to record lows, with even the first lady offering only a lukewarm assessment of his second term this week. A CNN analysis found that Republicans devoted less than 1% of their TV ad spending in early September to spots mentioning Trump.
Belcher predicted that the midterm electorate will be younger, more diverse and more Democratic than usual, saying his polling shows Democrats with an enthusiasm edge of more than 10 points.
Some prominent Trump allies have already broken away. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has floated launching a third party aimed at disaffected Republicans.