Poll: Trump's Approval Rating Rebounds to Pre-COVID Level

A new poll reveals strong support for the job President Donald Trump is doing as new measures show positive developments in the battle against the coronavirus and the drive to restart America’s economy.

Rasmussen Reports’ Friday tracking poll of likely voters showed that Trump is polling higher than Barack Obama was at the same point in the former president’s administration.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they approved of Trump’s job performance, compared to 48 percent of respondents who said the same of Obama on Sept. 4, 2012.

Trump last achieved a 52 percent approval rating in late February, just before the impact of the coronavirus led to vast lockdowns to slow the spread of the disease.

The survey showed that Trump continues to evoke a strong reaction among his supporters and opponents: 42 percent of those polled strongly approve of Trump, while 42 percent strongly disapprove.

The Rasmussen daily survey of approval ratings, which polled 1,500 people, has a margin of error of plus- or minus-2.5 percentage points.

On Friday, Trump noted that Americans have reason to be pleased because the U.S. has battled the coronavirus better than many other nations.

“[O]n the China virus front, the nations of Europe have experienced a 38 percent greater excess mortality than the United States — 38 percent more greater excess mortality than the United States. A lot of you don’t want to report that,” Trump said, according to a White House media pool report. “And if we took New York out of the equation, there’s nobody even close. The job we’ve done is incredible. And we don’t get any credit for it, but we’ve done an incredible job.”

Among Trump’s signature issues in office has been the economy, which on Friday reported an increase of 1.37 million jobs in August as the jobless rate fell to 8.4 percent — the lowest since lockdowns began to impact the economy in March, according to CNBC.

“These jobs numbers reflect a big win for American workers, and are a welcome surprise considering the unemployment insurance claims have barely been budging in recent weeks. Unemployment breaking the 10 percent barrier so decisively is a big psychological lift as well,” Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union,” told CNBC.

“We are still moving in the right direction and the pace of the jobs recovery seems to have picked up, but it still looks like it will take a while – and likely a vaccine – before we get back close to where we were at the beginning of this year,” added Citizens Bank’s head of global markets, Tony Bedikian.

“We continue to be optimistic that the economy has turned a corner and that we’ll continue to see steady progress.”

The numbers showed a stronger economy than the experts had predicted.

“It’s another great day for American jobs and American workers,” Vice President Mike Pence told CNBC.

The jobs report is “real evidence that the American comeback is underway,” he said.

During his Friday news conference, Trump said that could end if the November election goes the wrong way.

“We’re witnessing the fastest labor market recovery from any economic crisis in history, by far,” Trump said, later adding that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s support for potentially shutting down the nation could make heard-earned gains evaporate overnight.

“Joe Biden’s blanket shutdown would collapse our economy. It would cause countless deaths from suicide, drug, alcohol abuse, heart disease and more. You know, shutdowns cause a lot of problems — a lot of very serious problems — more so than the virus itself. Biden’s plan is not a solution; it’s a virtual surrender,” he said.

“And our country is doing so well. We’re starting to do so well. I think we’re going to have a great third quarter. I mean, you’re going to see for yourself because the numbers will be announced sometime prior to the election on Nov. 3.

“And as you know, Joe spent his entire career sending American jobs to China and other faraway countries,” Trump added.

“For 47 years, people were pillaging our country — taking our jobs, taking our companies. And that’s never going to change with that mindset and with that group. Biden is not going to be standing up to these foreign countries. He’s not going to be standing up — maybe more importantly — to the people that run the Democrat Party. He doesn’t have the strength to do that.”