Day 1,236: Paralyzed by pandemic and protesters, Trump’s polls numbers plummet and his rage peaks

Donald Trump’s popularity, or lack thereof, is causing him to crack before the nation’s eyes. Poll after poll after poll shows his waning support throughout the country and his reelection hopes fading.

While the election is still nearly five months away, it seems that most Americans are currently tired of Trump’s bungling of the coronavirus response and the pushing aside — sometimes literally — of peaceful protesters looking to end police brutality and systemic racism.

In aggregate, Trump’s poll numbers are among the worst of any point of his presidency.

A CNN poll seems to have been the final straw for Trump’s psyche.

The poll showed that as Trump continues tweeting about “LAW & ORDER,” Americans are overwhelmingly on the side of protesters. Race relations is among the most important issues for Americans and the poll found Trump to be failing on that topic.

More than 8 in 10 also say that the peaceful protests that have spread throughout the nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers are justified. Americans now consider race relations as important a campaign issue as the economy and health care, according to the survey.

Overall 38% approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency, while 57% disapprove. That’s his worst approval rating since January 2019, and roughly on par with approval ratings for Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush at this point in their reelection years. Both went on to lose the presidency after one term.

The poll finds the public broadly disapproves of Trump’s handling of race relations (63% disapprove), and 65% say the President’s response to recent protests has been more harmful than helpful.

Behind the scenes, Trump’s inner circle is feeling his wrath, including his son-in-law.

In Donald Trump’s West Wing, being a member of the Trump family has historically been the ultimate job security. But that truism is being stress-tested after a run of polls consistently show Trump losing to Joe Biden at this stage of the race — a CNN poll this morning has him down 14 points. According to a source close to the White House, Trump has mulled taking oversight of the campaign away from his son-in-law Jared Kushner. “Trump is malignantly crazy about the bad poll numbers,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s going to broom Kushner and [Brad] Parscale — the numbers are not getting better,” a Republican close to the campaign said.

All that’s left for him to call his friends and beg them to tell him what he wants to hear.

Over the weekend, Trump called around to New York friends and outside advisers in hopes they would validate Trump’s belief that the polls are wrong. “He’s asking people to agree with him that the polls are biased. But no one is telling him what he wants to hear,” said a Republican briefed on the calls.

This is Trump’s own doing. His schedule remains empty as he sits and shout-tweets into the void, paralyzed into inaction.

1,236 days in, 226 to go

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