Trump Job Approval 50% or Higher in 17 States in 2018

From Gallup.com, February 22, 2019 (excerpts)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Donald Trump's job approval rating varied widely across the U.S. states in 2018, with 17 states giving him ratings of 50% or higher, and 16 states giving him ratings below 40%. The states most approving of Trump were generally in the South and Mountain West areas of the country, while he fared most poorly in New England and on the West Coast.

In 2017, Trump had approval of 50% or higher in 12 states -- five fewer than in 2018 -- and approval below 40% in 17 states -- one more than in 2018. Those shifts reflect the modest improvement this past year in his approval ratings nationally, from 38% in 2017 to 40% in 2018.

The five states that moved to 50% or higher job approval last year were Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, Mississippi and Utah….

In order to get to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Trump would have to win all but one or two of the states in which his 2018 approval rating was between 41% and 49%. Some of the more challenging states to win from among this group, based on that approval rating, would be Texas (41%); Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan (all at 42%); and Arizona and Florida (43%). Trump won all of those states in 2016, and thus it is certainly possible that he can do so again. But he clearly has a lot of ground to make up in those states to get close enough to 50% that he can finish with more electoral votes nationwide than the Democratic candidate.

West Virginia (62%) and Wyoming (61%) residents were most approving of Trump's performance in 2018 and were the only two states with ratings above 60%. South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Mississippi and Alabama had the next-highest approval ratings for Trump, with Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas constituting the remainder of the top 10. All but Mississippi ranked among the top 10 states in 2017.

Trump's job approval ratings were lowest in Hawaii (26%) and Vermont (28%), with California and Massachusetts (each at 29%) also below 30%. The remainder of the bottom 10 includes Maryland, New York, Illinois, New Jersey and New Hampshire, with three states (Rhode Island, Connecticut and Washington) tied for 10th lowest….

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