DROP – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:  The controversies surrounding the president are taking their toll.  He's dropped again in the daily Rasmussen tracker, although not by much:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove. 

The latest figures include 31% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 46% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15.

COMMENT:   I wouldn't be shocked if the numbers fell further.  This, so far, is the worst week of the Trump presidency – Newt called his Helsinki press conference the low point of his term in office – and there have to be some political effects.

The president has to get back on track.  He is losing support in his own party over foreign-policy gaffes, and he has little popularity among the party leadership, to start with.  The midterms are three and a half months away.  If the Dems take the House, they will almost certainly impeach him.  The party base will demand it.

I have sensed in the last few days an exasperation with the president's verbal errors, beyond what I've seen before.  Americans, and especially Republicans, knew what they were getting with Trump – an imaginative, dynamic leader with some very serious flaws.  We'd hoped the flaws would recede, and some have.  But the mouth is the problem, and it's up front.

July 18,  2018