“The squad” might not be a strong as it thinks.
In the days immediately after President Donald Trump picked a national fight with the four progressive congressional freshmen collectively known as “the squad,” the reaction in the media was almost universal condemnation.
But a new poll released this week showed the reaction of the American public was something different.
According to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, Trump’s approval rating stood at 44 percent — 3 points higher than it was in June and the highest the poll has ever recorded for the president.
Poll numbers are a fluid matter, changing constantly. But what makes this poll particularly noteworthy is that it was taken July 15-17.
Those were the days immediately after Trump’s tweets about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
….it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Those tweets, in which Trump invited the congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” were denounced far and wide as “racist.”
For Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media, it must have looked like a golden opportunity to pile on the president.
From the deluge of media attention the tweets attracted, it was clear that liberals thought they had another defining moment to use to destroy the Trump presidency.
Yet a poll taken during the two days when the frenzy was at its highest shows Trump scoring some of the highest numbers of his administration. As National Review pointed out, it was “the highest level at which it’s been recorded in any mainstream opinion poll with the exception of a July 7 Washington Post poll that recorded 47 percent approval.”
Even more importantly, as NR noted, Trump’s approval rating among independents rose from 35 percent to 43 percent. With 90 percent of Republicans backing him in the NPR/PBS/Marist poll, for Trump, independents are where he is looking next for political support.
Meanwhile, according to USA Today, the four congresswomen who make up the “squad” are polling at numbers way below Trump’s.
A YouGov poll conducted from July 17-19 — again while the Trump tweet controversy was dominating headlines — found the women had approval ratings ranging from 17 percent for Pressley to 23 percent for Ocasio-Cortez.
Omar was behind Ocasio-Cortez at 19 percent approval. Tlaib was third with 18 percent approval.
But Ocasio-Cortez also registered the highest disapproval rating with 37 percent, followed by 36 percent for Omar, 34 percent for Tlaib and 28 percent for Pressley.
