An analyst Friday warned that a "sinkhole" just opened up under President Donald Trump as he is losing control over his loyal base due to his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
While Trump pushes Republicans to "side with him against other Republicans on an issue that makes the choice far harder than he wants to admit," polls are reflecting this divide, according to an MSNBC opinion piece from contributing writer Philip Bump.
Recent polling suggests that it's splitting his supporters. In an October poll by Ipsos/Reuters, 9 in 10 Republicans expressed approval of his presidency. However, only 4 in 10 said they approved of how he was handling the Epstein files release.
A poll this summer from Quinnipiac University revealed a similar split, with 84% of Republicans approving of Trump's second presidency but only 44% approving of his handling of Epstein.
"It’s not great for Trump that a third of Republicans told Quinnipiac they disapproved of his handling of Epstein," Bump writes. "What might also alarm the president, though, is that 22% of them said they didn’t know whether they approved of how he was handling Epstein."
"Why is that a cause for concern? Because voters often say they don’t know how they feel when they actually do know but don’t want to express it. A big chunk of that 22% of Republicans disapprove of how Trump is handling Epstein but haven’t gotten to the point where they want to say that on the record," Bump explains.
This shows that support for Trump is dropping within his own party.
"By itself, this is a problem for a president who requires unfailing fealty from supporters and his elected allies. Those elected Republicans have been consistently aligned with Trump, worried that the loyalty of his base could make the difference in whether they win their primaries. But if the base starts to waver, so will that fear — and so could that alignment," Bump adds.
