Trump approval ticking up in new poll

President Donald Trump’s approval has moved to 44% among registered voters, according to a new poll from NBC/WSJ, an improvement from the 39% approval he saw in April among all adults.

The number of those who say they “strongly approve” of Trump has improved as well, moving from 22% to 26%. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the President has been adding new voters, it likely reflects Trump’s base moving back towards him in fluctuations of approving or disapproving of his actions, month to month. According to NBC, Trump’s approval has been inching up among Trump voters, Republicans, rural voters and whites. These are all groups that are originally a part of the President’s base voters, showing that he is garnering stronger support from the same people, not necessarily adding new voters.

NBC points out that 44% is a similar approval rating to those Ronald Reagan (in June 1982) and Barack Obama (in June 2010) had before their midterm elections, in which both parties lost significant seats in the House.

In addition to Trump’s improving rating, those who say that things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction has moved up since NBC/WSJ’s April poll. Now, 36% of registered voters are saying that things in the nation are headed in the right direction, whereas 31% of adults said the same in April, and 29% in December. Those who say the nation is “off on the wrong track” has decreased from 62% to 55%.

The live-caller NBC/WSJ poll was conducted June 1-4 among 900 registered voters — about half contacted via cell phone — and the overall margin of error in the poll is plus-minus 3.3 percentage points.