Trump's job approval rating unfazed by Paul Manafort conviction, Michael Cohen guilty plea: Polls
by Naomi Lim
August 26, 2018 12:44 PM
President Trump's job approval rating hardly wavered after former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's conviction and ex-personal lawyer Michael Cohen's guilty plea on Tuesday, according to the results of pair of polls released Sunday.
Trump's job approval in a survey conducted from Aug. 18-22 sat at 46 percent, while 51 percent disapproved, a NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found. A second poll conducted between Aug. 22-25 revealed his approval numbers held steady, despite the legal jeopardy of his associates. The second survey from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found 44 percent of respondents approved of Trump's job performance, whereas 52 percent did not.
Manafort was found guilty by a federal court in Virginia on Aug. 21 of eight out of 18 tax and bank fraud charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's federal Russia investigation. On the same day, Cohen pleaded guilty in front of a New York federal court to eight charges that emanated from a U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York probe following a referral from Mueller.
The findings weren't all reassuring for the president and his GOP allies.
Democrats widened their lead to 8 percentage points over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot compared to a similar poll published in July, which found Democratic candidates had a 6-percentage point advantage ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
More left-leaning voters also expressed a high level of enthusiasm before the Nov. 6 elections. A majority of Democratic voters believed the upcoming cycle was more important than previous midterm elections, whereas only 38 percent of Republicans held the same view.
The first NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 900 registered voters. Its findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.27 percentage points. The second study had 600 registered-voter respondents and its outcomes have a slight wider margin of error at plus or minus 4 percentage points.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trumps-job-approval-rating-unfazed-by-paul-manafort-conviction-michael-cohen-guilty-plea-polls