39 percent. In the latest poll by the conservative television channel Fox News, the percentage of registered voters who think Donald Trump is doing a good job has fallen below the symbolic 40 percent mark.
Broken down by issues such as the economy, inflation and foreign policy, support is even lower. But when Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), was asked to comment on the poll on Wednesday, he ducked the question and focused on the party base.
"The grassroots love the president," Joe Gruters said, according to The Hill.
"He is our party leader, and when he makes a decision or supports candidates, they usually win."
Supports challengers
The move alludes to Trump-backed challengers who have defeated sitting congressmen in primaries in several states in recent weeks, putting the political careers of Texas Senator John Cornyn, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie at stake - people Trump has described as "disloyal" (Cassidy) and "a bad guy" (Massie).
But primaries say little about public opinion in the country at large. The Fox poll is in line with other opinion polls published in recent weeks that have made headlines in the American media. Forbes magazine recently noted that the president's support is falling in four out of five polls and is now at its lowest level since taking office.
Lower than Biden?
According to Real Clear Politics' compilation of 14 current polls, 39.6 percent currently approve of Trump's job performance, while 58.6 percent have the opposite opinion.
However, the website Fiftyplusone, an opinion aggregator that weights current surveys using a mathematical model, claims that Trump's support is even lower: 36.4 percent, and 60.1 percent believe that the president is doing a poor job.
Opinion expert Nate Silver reports similar figures on his website Silver Bulletin. Silver writes that Trump's support is now lower than both his predecessor Joe Biden's and his own at the same point in their first terms.
However, Trump gets slightly better marks when it comes to immigration, where just over 43 percent think he is doing a good job.
