The Slatest

Poll: Republican National Convention Did Nothing for Trump’s Favorability Rating

By
Trump gestures with his hands as he speaks at a podium
President Donald Trump speaks in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Friday. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

President Donald Trump was hoping for a nice bump from the Republican National Convention. So far at least, it doesn’t seem he got one, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll. After the convention, only 31 percent of Americans said they had a favorable view of the president. That is 1 percentage point less than in the previous poll, when it stood at 32 percent. That difference is well within the poll’s margin of error.

The poll, which was taken from Aug. 28 to Aug. 29, also shows Americans continue to broadly give a thumbs-down to the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 63 percent saying they disapprove of the way he has dealt with the crisis. The poll also found Americans didn’t like what they heard at the RNC. Overall, 59 percent of Americans said they disapproved of what the Republicans said and did at their convention. That number stands in stark contrast to the 53 percent who approved of the message at the Democratic National Convention. Chief among the criticism? Sixty-two percent of Americans say Republicans spent too much time blaming Democrats for problems.

Other polls do show some positive news for Trump after the convention. A Morning Consult poll conducted Friday showed Trump gained a 4-point bump in the race against Biden after the convention. The poll showed that among likely voters, Biden was leading Trump by 6 percentage points—50 percent to 44 percent. That marked an improvement for Trump, considering that before the convention Biden led 52 percent to 42 percent. In contrast, Biden’s lead over Trump didn’t change after the Democratic National Convention. A Yahoo News/YouGov poll, carried out Aug. 27–28 showed Biden’s lead shrinking to 6 points among registered voters—47 percent to 41 percent. Before the conventions, Biden enjoyed a 9-point lead—49 percent to 40 percent.

Even though Trump and the Republicans spent much of the convention trying to portray former Vice President Joe Biden as a dangerous candidate, it seems the country wasn’t swayed by the talking points, as his approval rating remained steady at 46 percent, compared with 45 percent from last week, according to the ABC/Ipsos poll. Biden did enjoy a 5-point bump in favorability after the Democratic National Convention. Among Democrats, Biden enjoyed an even larger 7-point convention bump. That is a stark contrast to Trump, who saw his favorability decline by 4 points among Republicans.