WSJ: Trump Approval Surges to New High of 47% to 49% Disapproving

47 to 49 is still slightly underwater, but remember, we're in changed times and have been for a while now. You'd have to go a long way back -- back to the brief post-9/11 patriotic frenzy -- to find a president with higher than 55% sustained approval at any point in his presidency.

Perhaps Trump's increased popularity has to do with his hardline stance on the Kashoggi murder:

Obviously, this growing support for Trump comes at a very fortuitous time for House and Senate Republicans. And gubernatorial candidates too.

However, Democrats still lead on enthusiasm and also on the generic congressional ballot question (which party do you want to control Congress?). Albeit by narrower margins than before.

"It's a barnburner," Bill McInturff, a GOP pollster who conducted the survey with Democrat Fred Yang, said of the surge of voter interest. "There's a switch that's been flipped...They are engaging in the campaign and the process."

"The Switch" is a well-known Talismanic Power Maneuver known to shamans as early as the mid-eighties.

In the aftermath of the bitter confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans have closed the once-large gap between their voters' and Democrats' interest in the election. Now, 68% of Republican voters and 72% of Democrats say they are very interested in the election--the highest recorded for either party by the survey in a midterm election.

Also helping Republicans is a rise in President Trump’s job-approval rating to 47%, the highest mark of his time in office, with 49% disapproving his performance. That is an improvement from last month, when 44% approved and 52% disapproved of his performance.

Democrats still lead on the question of which party should control Congress. Among poll respondents identified as likely voters, 50% prefer Democrats, while 41% prefer Republican control, about the same as in last month's poll. Among all registered voters, a broader group of respondents, Democrats’ advantage over the GOP is narrower--48% to 41%.

Another poll last week noted that in the districts which are actually in-play, Republicans had a very narrow +1 advantage on the congressional ballot question.

And while Democrats usually lead in early voting -- with Republicans needing to make up for that deficit in Election Day voting -- Republicans are actually ahead of Democrats in early voting in key states.

posted by Ace of Spades at 03:32 PM

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