Infighting, investigations take toll

Polls show slipping support among key blocs of coalition

President Trump is trying to combat new signs of weakness in his Republican base.

WASHINGTON — After six months of infighting, investigations and legislative failures, President Donald Trump is trying to combat new signs of weakness in his Republican base and re-energize his staunchest supporters.

White House officials have been urging the president to refocus on immigration and other issues that resonate with the conservatives, evangelicals and working-class whites who propelled him to the Oval Office. The president has ramped up his media-bashing via Twitter, long a successful tactic for Trump, and staged rallies hoping to marshal his base to his defense.

The effort underscores Trump’s shaky political positioning not yet seven months into his presidency. Trump has remained deeply unpopular among Democrats, and there are signs that his support among Republicans may be softening. His advisers are aware that a serious slip in support among his core voters could jeopardize hopes for a major early legislative accomplishment and likely increase Republicans’ worries about his reelection prospects.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway acknowledged the concerns Sunday on ABC, saying the president’s approval rating “among Republicans and conservatives and Trump voters is down slightly.”

“It needs to go up,” she said.

In a Monday morning tweet, Trump dismissed his adviser’s statement. “The Trump base is far bigger & stronger than ever before,” he wrote on Twitter.

But polling doesn’t support Trump’s claim. A recent Quinnipiac University survey showed the president’s approval dipping into negative territory among whites without college degrees — a key group of supporters for the president. The percentage of Republicans who strongly approve of his performance also fell, with just over half of Republicans saying they strongly approved of Trump. That’s down from the two-thirds of Republicans who strongly approved of the president’s performance in June.

Just one-third of all Americans approved of his job performance, a new low in the poll.

In a televised event at the White House last week, the president endorsed legislation that would dramatically reduce legal immigration to the United States. The bill is unlikely to ever become law, but that mattered little to Trump’s advisers. Their barometer for success was the reaction from conservatives like commentator Ann Coulter, who called the White House’s embrace of the controversial legislation “the best moment of the Trump presidency.”

Immigration is expected to continue being a focus for Trump, including a push for the border wall.

The appointment of White House chief of staff John Kelly also fits in to that effort. While Kelly was brought in primarily to bring much-needed discipline to the West Wing, officials note that he, too, is viewed favorably by some Trump loyalists for his early execution of the administration’s immigration policy as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Like Trump’s embrace of the legislation curtailing legal immigration, some of what the president has to offer his core supporters is more show than substance. In late July, Trump announced on Twitter that he was banning transgender people serving in the military — a policy shift sought by social conservatives — despite the fact that the Pentagon had no plans in place to enact the change.

Alice Stewart, a conservative who worked for the presidential campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said Trump is right to make overtures toward his coalition of loyal supporters, even if some of his moves are incomplete.

“I think people realize half a loaf is better than none,” Stewart said.

On Monday, Trump lashed out via Twitter at Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, calling him a “phony Vietnam con artist” after the lawmaker during a morning interview on CNN expressed strong support for a special counsel’s probe of Russia meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials.

In a series of tweets, Trump dismissed the “hoax Russian collusion” and revived a 2010 embarrassment for Blumenthal. The Connecticut lawmaker, a Marine Corps reservist during the Vietnam War, had to apologize for saying he had served in the conflict.

Blumenthal later responded to Trump on Twitter, saying: “Mr. President: Your bullying hasn’t worked before and it won’t work now. No one is above the law.”

DARRON CUMMINGS/AP President Donald Trump has been making moves recently to court his base, advisers say.