Some of the first job approval numbers show President Donald Trump losing support in Tennessee. An MTSU poll released Wednesday suggests he’s no more popular than President Obama was during his first few months in office.
Even though Trump won Tennessee with 61 percent of the vote, only a bare majority approve of his handling of the presidency at this point: 51 percent. MTSU poll director Ken Blake says that’s roughly where President Obama sat just a few weeks into the job, at 53 percent. But Obama never came close to winning the state.
“Whereas Barack Obama kind of had a honeymoon period in Tennessee, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be getting such a period,” Blake says. “He gets maybe more of a hangover period in Tennessee.”
The early days of the Obama presidency were his high point in the eyes of Tennesseans. Typically, his approval numbers in the state hovered around a third.
Blake acknowledges that the most recent statewide poll, conducted February 12-16, was taken during a tough week for the president, as his National Security Advisor resigned. But he says pollsters double-checked to make sure Trump voters weren’t underrepresented. And indeed, they made up 60 percent of the 600 respondents, similar to Trump’s electoral win in Tennessee.
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