Most Americans Like Robert Mueller, Dislike President Trump
President Donald Trump’s favorable rating, already low by historical standards, has dropped to 38% — while his unfavorable rating is at 59%. These are among the findings of the latest Gallup poll that has covered all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
This marks a dip in Trump’s favorable rating from 41% in December last year. It comes as Trump has escalated his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.
In contrast to Trump’s overall image, Mueller’s image is net positive — 36% favorable and 28% unfavorable. More than a third (36%) of the public has no opinion about Mueller, split between those who know of him but have no opinion (15%) and those who have not heard of him (21%).
[ Twitter Followers: Barack Obama = 100 Million, Donald Trump = Only 48 Million ]
Among those who have an opinion on both men, 45% view Mueller favorably and Trump unfavorably. Twenty-six percent have a favorable view of Trump and an unfavorable one of Mueller, and 29% like both (12%) or dislike both (17%).
Trump has been a longtime critic of Mueller’s investigation, labeling it “a witch hunt” last month. He ramped up his attacks last week after an FBI raid Monday on the offices of his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen. Trump described the raid as “a disgraceful situation” and mused publicly about firing Mueller.
The raid took place after about three-fourths of the Gallup poll had been conducted. There was no significant difference between the favorable ratings before and those after the raid for Trump or Mueller.
Meanwhile, the new YouGov’s annual study – which has covered the views of more than 37,000 people in 35 countries – reveals that President Barack Obama is 15 places higher than the man who replaced him – Donald Trump.
[ Did Cambridge Analytica Steal Facebook Data to Help Trump Win? ]
Trump’s favorable ratings have varied little since he took office at the start of last year, ranging from 46% in February last year to 38% now. In every poll, a majority has had an unfavorable opinion of Trump.
None of his three White House predecessors had a majority of Americans view them unfavorably during their first 15 months in office. (Gallup did not ask the favorability question regularly about presidents before Bill Clinton’s first term.)
In spite of the controversy that has swirled around the Trump presidency from its beginning, public opinion about Trump has changed little. The percentage of Americans who like him and the percentage who dislike him have stayed in a fairly narrow range.
That is still true, even with the latest slight drop in his favorable rating — the highest and lowest ratings of his presidency are still less than 10 percentage points apart.
It is too soon to tell whether the latest events surrounding the Mueller investigation will push Trump’s image down to pre-election levels, but the reaction from the Americans polled in the immediate aftermath does not indicate a major shift in views.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 2-11, 2018, with a random sample of 1,015 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
