President Trump, who’s never been very popular in New York, has reached an all time low in the opinions of voters, according to a new poll.
According to the Siena College survey, Trump is viewed unfavorably by around two-thirds of New Yorkers, 65 percent, with only his core base of some of the state’s Republicans still standing by the President. 63 percent of registered GOP members surveyed believe Trump is doing an excellent or good job in office.
Only around a quarter of New Yorkers overall like the President’s job performance, and 57 percent say he’s doing a “poor job” in office, says Siena’s Steve Greenberg.
“There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with what’s going on in Washington DC right now,” Greenberg said.
The numbers for Congress are even worse. Only 21 percent of New Yorkers approve of the Democrats in Congress, and 17 percent support the Republicans. Siena spokesman Greenberg says the numbers include a figure among independents that he’s never before encountered. Just 5% of independents view GOP members of Congress favorably, 94% of independents rate them unfavorably.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a job approval rating for anybody be 5-94,” Greenberg said.
Even one of the state’s perennially popular politicians, Senator Chuck Schumer, who is now the Senate Minority Leader, has taken a hit. Schumer’s favorable rating of 57 percent has dropped 10 points since last December.
Greenberg attributes the record low ratings and high dissatisfaction to a number of factors, including the lack of any major achievements in the Trump administration so far, and seemingly endless controversies.
“They want to see action,” Greenberg said. “What they are seeing right now is politicians of all stripes not working for them.”
The majority of New Yorkers are also concerned about possible ties between members of the Trump Administration to Russia. And two-thirds want to keep the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, rather than adopt the repeal and replacement plan approved by the Republican-led House of Representatives. The survey was conducted before the Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that the House plan would result in 23 million more Americans becoming uninsured over the next decade.
Greenberg says elected officials are likely taking note.
“Any elected official should be worried when voters have an attitude like this,” Greenberg said.
But he says it’s still too early to read any election consequences into the numbers. It’s a long time until November of 2018.
