Having accomplished only 17.6% of his campaign goals, a current disapproval rating of 54.8%, and an impeachment inquiry underway, Donald Trump’s reelection chances seem to decline with each passing day.
According to PolitiFact, Trump currently has kept 17.6% of his campaign promises. Including, holding up his promise to accept no salary, he has donated it, slashing federal regulations, moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, and cancelling the Paris climate agreement.
By the end of Obama’s presidency, Obama had kept 48.4% of his promises. It should be noted that Trump has not finished his presidency and still has 27.5% of his promises “in the works” and 27.5% of his promises stalled. He has over a year to accomplish his goals.
Trump has broken 16.7% of his promises and compromised on 10.8%. He has not enacted term limits for congress, members, brought back waterboarding, cancelled all funding to sanctuary cities, and removed existing Syrian refuges. By the end of Obama’s presidency, Obama had broken 24.2% of his promises.
Trump has maintained a disapproval rating over 50% for the majority of his presidency. On October 25, Real Clear Politics rated his disapproval rating as 54.8%. his all-time high was 58.1%, on December 16, 2017. The same October 25 poll said his approval rating was 41.8%. At this point in Obama’s presidency (Oct. 2011), Obama has an approval rating of 43% and disapproval rating of 49%.
Trump’s disapproval rating has increased in recent days, likely due to the formal impeachment inquiry Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced on September 24, 2019 (for a full time-line of the Trump-Ukrainian scandal click here). She relented to mounting pressures for impeachment from the Democratic Party after a whistleblower complaint exposed a phone call between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky.
Trump has been accused of offering President Zelensky a quid pro quo, or an advantage for something in return. Trump directed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to withhold up to $400 million in military aid, then asked President Zelensky to do him a “favor” on a phone call and investigate Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Biden. The whistleblower complaint said the call showed Trump “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country,” which is illegal.
Trump’s story has shifted in the passing weeks. First he denied it and called his phone call “perfect.” Recently, his administration has claimed it was not quid pro quo, because Ukraine did not know the aid was frozen, although recent testimony has proven otherwise. William B. Taylor, United States diplomat to Kiev, stated quid pro quo has occurred in a closed door meeting with impeachment investigators.
Support for the impeachment of Trump has risen in current weeks and currently 51.3% of Americans support it.
Donald trump rose from out of left field to win the presidency in 2016, however an overall assessment of the promises he has kept, his current disapproval rating, and growing support for the impeachment inquiry, all suggests that his support has begun to crumble and his prospects for 2020 look worse than ever before. Moreover, recent polls show the four top democratic presidential candidates beating Trump in head to head polls.