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Pliny's Point on August 23, 2017
August 23, 2017: An average of recent polls shows President Donald Trump's approval rating at 38 percent, with 57 percent disapproving. This is down one point from Monday, but consistent with the past couple weeks. Overall, his approval rating has been down from earlier in the year (see graph below).
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| Source | Date range | Sample size | Job approval rating | Margin of error (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallup[1] | 8/19 - 8/21 | 1,500 adults | 35% | 3% |
| Rasmussen Reports[2] | 8/17 - 8/21 | 1,500 likely voters | 43% | 2.5% |
| Washington Post/ABC[3] | 8/16 - 8/20 | 1,014 adults | 37% | 3.5% |
| Politico/Morning Consult[4] | 8/17 - 8/19 | 1,987 registered voters | 39% | 2% |
| Quinnipiac University[5] | 8/9 - 8/15 | 1,361 registered voters | 39% | 3.4% |
| Economist/YouGov[6] | 8/13 - 8/15 | 1,291 registered voters | 42% | 3.2% |
| Reuters/Ipsos[7] | 8/11 - 8/15 | 1,587 adults | 35% | 2.8% |
| CBS News[8] | 8/3 - 8/6 | 1,111 adults | 36% | 4% |
| IBD/TIPP[9] | 7/28 - 8/5 | 904 adults | 32% | 3.3% |
A study by FiveThirtyEight found that variances in polls about President Trump's favorability stemmed primarily from the collection method. Polls of registered or likely voters tended to be more favorable to Trump than those that polled adults generally. Automated or online polls also resulted in more favorable rankings than those conducted with live phone calls. The data for these findings was taken from polls conducted between Feb. 1 and Feb. 19, 2017.[10] For more on the types of polling methods used in Ballotpedia's polling averages, see Pliny's Point polling methodology.
Methodology
For Ballotpedia's presidential approval, congressional approval, and direction of the country polling results, we take an average of the most recent polls on one or more of these topics conducted by 12 sources. Polls may be included in the average for up to 30 days, though this timeline may be adjusted to account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information. For a full description of our methodology and polling explanations, see: Ballotpedia's Polling Indexes.
What's in a name?
Pliny the Elder, a scholar from the Roman Empire, is most well known for writing the encyclopedic work Naturalis Historia, or “Natural History.” His extremely thorough work covered everything from botany to technology. Naturalis Historia, one of the largest Roman works that still exists from the first century A.D., became an example for future encyclopedic works through its formatting, references, and comprehensiveness.
Today, Ballotpedia works to preserve and expand knowledge, just like Pliny did hundreds of years ago. One of the features of Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, was a daily statistic called Pliny’s Point. Each day, between January 20, 2017 and September 1, 2017, readers learned where Americans stood on the direction of the country, or their approval of elected officials.
Click here for more Pliny's Point articles.
See also
Ballotpedia daily polling averages:
Stay in the know:
- The Weekly Brew
- The Daily Brew
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition, 2016-2017
- Policy issues under the Trump administration, 2017-2021
- 115th United States Congress
- Special elections to the 115th United States Congress (2017-2018)
Footnotes
- ↑ Gallup, "Trump Job Approval," accessed August 23, 2017
- ↑ Rasmussen Reports, "Trump Approval Index History," accessed August 23, 2017
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Washington Post-ABC News poll," August 16-20, 2017
- ↑ Politico/Morning Consult, "National Tracking Poll," August 17-19, 2017
- ↑ Quinnipiac University Poll, "Trump gets bump with approval on economy, Quinnipiac University national poll finds," August 17, 2017
- ↑ YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll," August 13-15, 2017
- ↑ Ipsos/Reuters, "Core Political Data," August 16, 2017
- ↑ CBS News Poll, "President Trump’s Approval Steady While Views of Economy Rise," August 3-6, 2017
- ↑ Investor's Business Daily, "IBD/TIPP Poll: Presidential Approval, Direction Of Country," August 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Why Polls Differ On Trump’s Popularity," February 20, 2017
