Trump’s transition hits a rough patch
As inauguration nears, two polls show the president-elect’s standing has dropped.
WASHINGTON — As a developer and a reality-TV star, Donald Trump seemed to believe there was no such thing as too much publicity.
As president-elect, he’s finding that’s not so.
Trump hasn’t yet taken the oath of office, but judging by the latest polls, he’s already started to wear out his welcome.
In the weeks immediately after the election, Trump got a small, but noticeable, boost in polls.
His efforts to prod Carrier Corp. to keep at least some jobs in Indiana got a lot of favorable attention — even if the numbers were less than he claimed. Independent voters, in particular, seemed to like the unifying tone he set with his speech on election night.
Two months on, that glow has worn off, and Trump’s standing with the public has returned to his normal, which is to say widely abnormal for any other newly elected president.
Only 44% of Americans approve of Trump’s transition so far, according to the latest Gallup figures, released Friday. Another poll last week, by Quinnipiac University, pegged the number even lower — 37% approved of Trump.
In either case, Trump stands far below the norm for a new president. In Gallup’s surveys, for example, 68% of Americans approved of Bill Clinton’s transition just before he took office, 61% approved of George W. Bush and a whopping 83% approved of Barack Obama.
Polls don’t say precisely why Trump’s standing has dropped, but there’s strong reason to think overexposure plays a part.
Throughout the presidential campaign, whichever candidate was in the spotlight consistently suffered. Constant attention reminded voters of what they disliked about either Trump or Hillary Clinton.
One of the reasons Trump won was that his aides succeeded in keeping him restrained in the final two weeks of the contest, allowing attention to focus on Clinton — a strategy helped by FBI Director James B. Comey’s late announcement of a renewed interest in Clinton’s emails. (Comey’s conduct will be the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.)
Since the election, however, Trump has dominated the news. He seems to hate not being the center of attention, picking fights on Twitter, offering cryptic pronouncements on policy and largely eclipsing the final weeks of President Obama’s tenure.
Predictably, that approach has started to wear on people even before his inauguration.
The decline in Trump’s standing has been especially notable among the voters with the least attachment to either party: His approval among self-identified independents has fallen from 46% a few weeks ago to 33% now, Gallup found.
Two numbers stand out from the Quinnipiac poll: Since November, Trump has lost ground on the share of voters who think he has good leadership qualities and those who think he has good judgment.
None of that is fatal — presidential standing goes up and down. But for nearly all presidents, support tends to decline over time. Part of the goal of a transition is to hit a high point that will provide a cushion against the inevitable disappointments that come with governing.