Trump's Diplomatic Tour Not Lifting His Job Approval at Home

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Donald Trump's job approval rating has not improved since he embarked Friday on a nine-day diplomatic tour in the Middle East and Europe. Gallup tracking from Sunday through Tuesday puts his job approval rating at 39%, roughly the same as the 38% approval rating he averaged in each of the prior two weeks.

Trump's most recent 38% weekly average approval ratings, accompanied by 56% disapproval ratings, span a difficult period for the White House. The administration has faced tough questions about Trump associates' roles in Russian interference during the election, as well as fallout from Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey, and the appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between Trump's campaign and Russian officials.

Trump's 38% weekly ratings captured in these past two weeks tie his lowest weekly average to date, first recorded in early April. His highest ratings were during his first week in office, when he averaged 45% approval, but his ratings have since varied between 38% and 43%.

At the same time, the president's latest three-day rolling average job rating of 39% is a shade higher than his all-time low 35% approval rating recorded in late March. That was recorded immediately after Trump's initial high-stakes effort to push an Obamacare repeal bill through the Republican-led Congress fizzled.

Trump Loses Most Support Among Those in the Political Center

Trump may be unpopular with a majority of Americans, but most Republicans continue to like what they see. More than eight in 10 Republicans (84%) say they approve of the job he is doing, down five percentage points from his post-inaugural week, when they gave him their highest level of support.

Democrats' approval of Trump has been low from the start, though the latest 7% is down six points from January. Meanwhile, independents' approval has dropped the most, falling 11 points to 31%.

A similar pattern is seen among different ideological groups, with approval of Trump slipping 10 points among political moderates compared with six points among conservatives and just one point among liberals.

	Jan 20-29, 2017	May 15-21, 2017	Change
	%	%	pct. pts.
U.S. adults	45	38	-7
Republican	89	84	-5
Independent	42	31	-11
Democrat	13	7	-6
Conservative	73	67	-6
Moderate	41	31	-10
Liberal	12	11	-1
Gallup Daily

Trump Above 40% With Whites, Men, Older Americans

Trump's approval ratings from Americans of all major gender, racial, age and socio-economic groups are largely lackluster. However, he tends to be viewed best in demographic categories among those most likely to identify as Republicans: men, adults aged 50 and older, and whites. Trump's approval remains at or above 40% with all of these groups, as well as among those who did not earn a college degree.

Since January, Trump's job approval ratings from men and women, as well as across all major age, education, racial and income groups, have declined at rates similar to the seven-point national decline.

	Jan 20-29, 2017	May 15-21, 2017	Change
	%	%	pct. pts.
Male	50	44	-6
Female	39	32	-7
65+	53	45	-8
50-64	49	44	-5
30-49	44	37	-7
18-29	33	24	-9
White (non-Hispanic)	56	48	-8
Hispanic	25	17	-8
Black (non-Hispanic)	15	9	-6
Postgraduate	34	27	-7
College graduate only	42	35	-7
Some college	48	41	-7
High school	48	40	-8
$90,000 or more	49	39	-10
$60,000-$89,999	53	43	-10
$24,000-$59,999	42	37	-5
Less than $24,000	36	30	-6
Gallup Daily

Bottom Line

The president who won with a historically low favorable rating, started office with a historically low job approval rating, and quickly broke the record for the lowest first-year job approval rating of any president, is now in a job approval rut. Trump has averaged 38% over the two most recent weeks and the number doesn't appear to be moving much on his first foreign trip as president. Any improvement Trump may have expected from representing the nation on this high-visibility tour may be blunted by controversy over reports of his possible sharing of sensitive intelligence information in a recent meeting with Russian officials.

Whether the final leg of Trump's trip (including a meeting with Pope Francis) or the public's reaction to the terrorist bombing in Manchester, England, on Monday changes things, remains to be seen.