The weekly Gallup Presidential Approval / Disapproval poll has the pundits stirred up this week because of the change from last week:
It’s a bit like a roller-coaster, isn’t it? I had not expected the drop in approval to 38%, although the jump to 60% disapproval is more striking. I still find it a little difficult to find any serious conclusions to draw, especially short-term, but Jennifer Rubin thinks there’s more bubbling under the surface than I do, based on a poll taken concerning Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation:
The poll, conducted after the midterm election, found that 76 percent of voters say Mueller should be allowed to finish his work. While there are differences by party, Trump should be alarmed to find large bipartisan majorities standing up for Mueller:
Majorities of Democrats (94%), independents (78%), and Republicans (55%) say that Mueller should be allowed to complete his investigation. In this regard:
— 83% of voters, including 68% of Republicans, agree that “it would be an abuse of power for Donald Trump to try to stop an ongoing investigation of him and his campaign because no one is above the law, not even the president.” Fifty-nine percent strongly agree.
— 82% of voters, including 66% of Republicans, agree that “Robert Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation and follow the facts wherever they lead, because everyone must abide by the rule of law, even the president.” Fifty-eight percent strongly agree.
Even though they think the investigation is biased (as a vast majority of Republicans do), large majorities of Republicans want the investigation completed. …
Amplifying the support in the Senate and among ordinary Republicans to keep Mueller at work, GOP ads run by Republicans for the Rule of Law have been pushing Republicans to defend Mueller. The cumulative effect of these developments finally may have registered. “While Republicans have at times over the last two years been swayed by the demagoguery of Trump and [Rep. Devin] Nunes and Fox, they’ve come back around to the core American belief in the rule of law,” says Bill Kristol, the group’s co-founder. “The GOP is less solidly Trump’s party than people think.” Even if they still support Trump, Republicans may have figured out that firing or interfering with the special counsel would be politically disastrous for the president and the party.
Does this all have an endpoint advantageous to the nation? Hard to say. The cult of the leader that has paralyzed the GOP over the last two years may be running into the rock of reality, and the latter is more of a mountain the Trump.
But I’ll keep my optimism on the back burner.
