One of the many results from the Alabama special election that should concern the White House was that voters were evenly divided about President Donald Trump’s job performance.
Exit polls showed Trump was dead even, at 48% approval to 48% disapproval, in a state he won in 2016 by nearly 28%. While the exit polls were certainly affected by high Democratic turnout, and perhaps also by Republicans’ reluctance to answer, Trump should worry.
There is no immediate reason that Trump should be doing so badly in a solidly conservative state. He has delivered on many of his campaign promises and will probably sign a sweeping tax reform bill by Christmas. Conservatives are disappointed that Obamacare has not yet been repealed, and that the border wall has not yet been built, but that is largely Congress’s fault. The only remaining explanation is his personal temperament — the tweets and the rest.
To turn his low approval numbers around, in Alabama and elsewhere, Trump will likely need to “pivot” — that is, if he wants to be re-elected (and he may, some speculate, be satisfied with one term). The question is what that pivot will be, and when it will happen.
Read the rest from Joel P. Pollak HERE.
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