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2462d ago / 2:58 PM UTC

Polls on Trump Approval, Comey Firing Show Divided Nation

UNITY

Recent polls show little evidence that Trump has unified the nation. His approval ratings paint a deeply divided country: his base supports him fervently, while a historic high numbers of Americans disapprove of how he's doing.

According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, taken in late June, Trump’s overall job approval rating stands at 40 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove. A deep split emerges if you break the rating down by party: Democrats and independents give the president dismal marks, disapproving of the job he’s doing in the Oval Office by 90 percent and 63 percent, respectively. But Trump has seen no erosion of support from Republicans. His party affords him the same 82 percent approval rating in this latest survey that he enjoyed last month. 

Meanwhile, by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans say they are more likely to believe former FBI Director James Comey than President Donald Trump when it comes to their differing accounts of events that led up to Comey's firing, according to a different NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Similarly to the approval rating, when you examine the findings by party, 76 percent of Democrats side with Comey, while 50 percent of Republicans believe Trump. Independents break for Comey over Trump, 47 percent to 17 percent.

2528d ago / 5:14 PM UTC

100 Days In: How's Trump Doing On Unity?

UNITY

Status: No tangible progress or efforts

Trump has not taken any direct action that we can evaluate here, and divisions he has decried — a record-high 77 percent of Americans said in late November they see the nation as divided — persist. His legislative attempts have yet to attract bipartisan support, and his executive orders rolling back protections for transgender students and women in workplaces have been criticized as divisive.

The nation is sharply split in its view of Trump, too. Nearly 100 days in, more Americans disapprove of the president’s leadership than approve of it: The most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 48 percent of Americans disapproving of his presidency, with 44 percent approving.

He reiterated his goal to unite the nation in a February interview, but insisted the problem wasn't his fault.

“It’s very important to me," he said in a press conference. “But this isn’t Donald Trump that divided a nation. We went eight years with President Obama, and we went many years before President Obama. We lived in a divided nation. And I’m gonna try, I will do everything within my power to fix that.”

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