For the first time since immediately after his 2017 Inauguration, President Trump has strung together 10 consecutive days of approval ratings of 50% or higher, a level pollsters consider key to winning reelection.
Today’s week-ending Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll had Trump at 52% approval and 48% disapproval.
The string of weekday Rasmussen 50% or higher approval ratings started Sept. 14 with 51%, followed by approval ratings of 51%, 52%, 51%, 53%, 51%, 50%, 50%, 52%, and today’s 52%.
While many national polls are mocked by critics for blowing the 2016 outcome or overplaying Democrats, Rasmussen was one of the closest to call Hillary Rodham Clinton’s popular win margin correctly.
Coming Up Today:@realDonaldTrump daily job approval % is – unchanged.
Majority of Likely Voters Believe Trump Has Changed the Republican Party More To His Way of Thinking
Voters are closely divided over whether Joe Biden’s lifetime in politics is a positive or a negative. pic.twitter.com/dRQVBrlRa5
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) September 25, 2020
Rasmussen also uses the 2016 vote model to include a third Republican voters, while many media polls include just a quarter of Republicans. And it uses likely voters, which is considered more accurate than just adults or registered voters.
The Trump campaign and its pollsters have been critical of polls that overweight Democrats.
And they see encouraging signs in the president’s sustained 50% approval rating as he nears the first 2020 debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Tuesday night.
“For President Trump to have weathered so many critical issues this election year and receive the approval of the majority of voters is the most important bellwether for his reelection,” said John McLaughlin of McLaughlin & Associates.
“Being over 50% job approval is critical. The last two reelected Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each had a 51% job approval on Election Day when they were reelected,” he said.
Brother Jim McLaughlin said, “It’s not just the Rasmussen polls, there are recent polls in the battleground states such as Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, etc., where President Trump is ahead. He is statistically tied in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. POTUS is out there every day, explaining the choice the voters face, while Joe Biden is insulting the voters and hiding in his basement, not talking about the issues that matter most.”
