The unpopular Trump is shrinking the GOP - By Jennifer Rubin

President Trump has two problems. First, public disapproval of the president and a lack of confidence in him are skyrocketing. Second, Republicans’ solace that “at least the GOP is with him” may be misguided.

As for the overall numbers, his disapproval rating hit a new high of 60 percent in the Gallup poll. In the latest Politico-Morning Consult poll, 53 percent of voters think former FBI director James B. Comey is very or somewhat honest. By a margin of 45 percent to 32 percent, voters pick Comey over Trump when it comes to honesty. A strong plurality of voters think Trump fired Comey over the Russia investigation, not due to concerns about his performance (47 percent to 36 percent).

By a large majority, voters disfavor his signature bill, the American Health Care Act (which now he concedes is “mean”!). Big tax cuts for the rich, the heart of his tax plan, are unpopular as well. In short, even if Trump could get back to his agenda, it is not going to find favor with the voters.

As for GOP support, let’s keep in mind a few things. First, he’s a minority president who got only 46.1 percent of the vote. He cannot afford to lose voters; he needs to gain support from independents and even Democrats. Second, the Virginia gubernatorial primary results and generic congressional polling show that Democrats have a decisive advantage when it comes to enthusiasm and engagement. Third, we have the Virginia gubernatorial primary results and in a week we will have the results of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District special election to test the proposition that as the GOP becomes the Party of Trump, it becomes less attractive to a mass of voters who have traditionally considered themselves to be Republicans. A shrunken GOP means losses in 2018, the potential for the House to flip to Democratic control and proceed to impeachment, and the emergence of either a primary challenger to Trump, a third-party movement or an enlarged Democratic Party with GOP defectors.

It is not illogical to conclude that Trump is losing the curious or skeptical voters who were willing to give him the chance given his Democratic opponent in 2016, the perception that he was a successful manager and his image as a less ideologically dogmatic kind of Republican.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/06/14/the-unpopular-trump-is-shrinking-the-gop/