September 21, 2017
President Donald Trump still has his closest group of supporters very much by his side, though his overall approval among voters in the Keystone State is slipping, according to one new survey.
The September 2017 poll from Franklin & Marshall College published this week shows that 29 percent of Pennsylvania voters believe that Trump is doing a good job in office, a drop of 8 percentage points from F&M's May poll.
A majority of self-identified Republicans and conservatives are continuing to rally behind Trump, but not as strongly as they had in the spring. From May to September, Republican belief that Trump is doing an excellent or good job as president fell from 67 to 53 percent. Conservative support fell from 76 to 55 percent in the same time period, according to the poll.
"I don't think there's any doubt that the controversial nature of his leadership has something to do with that," G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall, told PennLive. "That and his failure to deliver on his agenda. I don't think you can say that Congress has delivered repeal and replace or tax reform."
Pennsylvanians surveyed for the poll believe that Trump is doing best with handling issues related to terrorism, with 49 percent saying that he deserves an "A" or "B" letter grade, while 50 percent and 47 percent give him an "F" for how he's dealing with health care and climate change, respectively.
Forty-seven percent also would give him Trump an "F" for steps he's taking toward environmental protection efforts.
Pennsylvania, a battleground state, was widely believed to have helped Trump win the presidency and was considered a surprising defeat for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
F&M interviewed nearly 400 registered Pennsylvania voters for the poll from Sept. 13-18.
Check out F&M's September poll here.
