Trump ratings stable, public not fazed by unconventional presidency: Monmouth poll

A new Monmouth University poll has some promising news for President Trump, who often draws a barrage of media criticism for conducting his presidency on his own terms.

The new survey found that fully 81 percent of Americans say the way Trump runs his administration has been “less conventional than prior presidents” — while 79 percent of Americans they are “not really surprised by Trump’s behavior in office.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s favorability ratings have remained stable in the last year, staying in the 39 to 42 percent range for the past 12 months.

“It seems that most Americans walked into the Trump era with eyes wide open about what he would bring to the table,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “That’s one reason why his ratings do not move all that much despite his provocative tweets and similar actions that drive nearly every news cycle. I think the few who still seem to be fazed by his behavior may mainly be political pundits and the media.”

Impeachment appears to be off the table. The poll also found that 39 percent of the respondents say that Mr. Trump should be impeached and compelled to leave the presidency — while 56 percent disagree.

“The majority view is you can’t impeach Trump for doing what most people expected he would do as president to begin with,” Mr. Murray said.

There is evidence of some public fatigue with one pivotal issue.

“One area where there does seem to be a slight change of opinion is the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links to the Trump campaign,” the poll analysis said. “While a majority of Americans (54 percent) support continuing the special counsel’s Russia probe, that support level is down slightly from 60 percent about two months ago. Currently, 43 percent say the investigation should end (compared with 37 percent who said the same in March.”