Democrats approve of U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s job performance at the same rate as they approve of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
A Quinnipiac poll of 1,193 voters conducted in late April found 63 percent of respondents approved of the way Haley is handling her job in the Trump administration, including a majority of Democrats. Fifty-five percent of Democrats surveyed approved of Haley, the same percentage of Democrats that approved of Pelosi, though the California Democrat’s approval rating among all voters was less than half of Haley’s, at 30 percent. Only seventeen percent of voters disapproved of Haley. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., approval rating among Democrats was only one point higher than Haley’s, at 56 percent. (The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.)
At 59 percent, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was the only other official respondents were asked to rate who even came close to Haley’s high level of approval among all voters. White House chief of staff John Kelly came in at 44 percent, Schumer at 34 percent, national security adviser John Bolton at 37 percent, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at 33 percent, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all the way down at 22 percent.
No other Republican official earned higher than 26 percent approval among Democrats, with the exception of Mattis, who secured 43 percent. While Haley had the highest approval rating overall, Mattis had the highest approval rating among Republican voters, with 81 to her 75 percent. That makes some sense given how frequently Haley has drawn the ire of non-interventionist Trump allies for her approach to the crisis in Syria, likely cutting into her support on the Right. (Nine percent of Republicans disapproved of her in the poll.)
That Democrats rate Haley as highly as Pelosi and Schumer is stunning, because all three of them are favored by a majority of voters in the party. If Pelosi and Schumer had lost the support of most Democrats, and Haley ranked as highly as them, it would be less interesting. But Democrats overall are largely pleased with each of the officials, including the former Republican governor.
This bodes remarkably well for Haley’s political future which, given her resume, could certainly include a run for higher office (just not in this context, as my colleague Phil Wegmann argued). Among Republicans, she’s trusted by Trump’s allies and detractors. Democrats seem pleased with her. And Haley also scored the highest approval rating among independents at 63 percent.
Things change quickly these days, but Haley’s high marks are good news for the Trump administration and good news for her future.
