Trump's best poll shows 53% of Americans will 'definitely' vote against him in 2020

Even on his best day, most American voters are unhappy with Trump’s performance in the White House.

On Monday, a new poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist shows Trump reaching a “new high” in his approval ratings of 44%. The same poll shows most registered voters in America — 52% — disapprove of the job Trump is doing.

When polling voters about whether or not they would vote for Trump in 2020, the numbers are significantly worse.

A full 53% of voters said they will “definitely vote against” Trump, while just 39% of voters say they will “definitely vote for” Trump. This is the fifth Marist poll in a row showing a majority of Americans will definitely vote against Trump in 2020.

While most Republicans support Trump and most Democrats oppose him, Trump fares particularly poorly among self-identified independent voters, losing the group by 21 points. Only 33% of independent voters will definitely vote for Trump, while 54% reported they will definitely vote against him.

For comparison to the previous administration, none of the six polls asking about President Barack Obama from November 2010 through November 2011 showed a majority committed to voting against him.

A majority of voters have consistently opposed Trump, even on Election Day 2016, when Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by roughly 3 million votes.

Since being in office, Trump’s tenure has been dominated by scandal and chaos. The Mueller report lays out evidence that Trump obstructed justice, and scores of Trump campaign officials are either in prison or awaiting jail sentences. Trump’s Cabinet has been rocked by scandals, the lastest of which saw Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigning as more evidence came to light about the sweetheart plea deal he once gave a child rapist in Florida.

Trump himself spent the past week mired in controversy over racist attacks against four congresswomen, telling the women of color that they should “go back” to where they came from, as if their skin color makes them any less American than white citizens.

On the policy front, Trump championed a new tax law that benefits Wall Street corporations and billionaires like his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos while leaving working-class families out in the cold. He backed a Republican ploy to rip health care away from millions of Americans, and he currently supports a lawsuit that would take away protections for people with preexisting conditions.

His administration, his inaugural committee, the Trump Organization, and the Trump Foundation are all the targets of investigations, ranging from congressional inquiries, to state investigations, to federal probes.

Through it all, 89% of Republican voters are committed to voting for Trump in 2020, according to the latest poll. But overall, most voters seem tired of the scandals and say they are ready to vote against Trump next November.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.