美国国家公共电台 NPR Poll: Trump Approval Down, Slips With Base

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

How has the news of the past month affected¹ the political support for President Trump²? In a matter of weeks, the president has lost key advisors³ and has also become the central figure in a partial government shutdown. Now an NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll has asked voters about the presidential campaign now beginning. NPR lead political editor Domenico Montanaro is with us. Domenico, good morning.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: What do the numbers say?

MONTANARO: Well, you know, the fact of the matter here is that, you know, the president's approval rating is slipping somewhat, and it's largely because of his base. There have been some cracks that we've seen. The president approval rating dropped slightly, from 42 to 39 percent. But among some of those key base numbers from last month, suburban⁵ men and white women without a college degree, they had approved of the job the president was doing. Now they don't. He's also down some with white evangelical Christians⁶, suburban men and even slightly with Republicans, overall.

INSKEEP: Have people been thinking already about how they plan to vote in 2020?

MONTANARO: They certainly have been. And it's not great news for President Trump there, either. Fifty-seven percent of people say that they definitely would not vote for President Trump in 2020, which is - historically, those are terrible numbers. President Obama, at the same point, was at about 48 percent of people who said they definitely would not vote for him. That wound up being roughly about where President Obama wound up doing in the 2012 election. He wound up winning, of course. But about 47 percent of people didn't vote for him.

INSKEEP: I guess we should clarify here. Fifty-seven percent of people in this survey saying they'll definitely vote against President Trump. Sounds like the president's re-election prospects⁷ are toast. But, of course, the question is who actually shows up to vote in 2020, in what percentages do they show up to vote, do they really do what they say they're going to do? Nevertheless, it's pretty dire⁸.

MONTANARO: Yeah. It's who winds up showing up, but also who he winds up running against. Because, you know, these elections, obviously, are choices. And, you know, it's one thing to say a generic⁹ Democrat¹⁰ could beat President Trump. It's another thing to say who that Democrat actually would be.

INSKEEP: So what is it that seems to be driving the president's support downward?

MONTANARO: Well, a big part of it, obviously, is the shutdown. You know, there's the longest-running shutdown that the country's ever seen. And just in the past month what we've seen is that people have changed somewhat dramatically in some cases, but also we see that people say - more than 60 percent of people say that they have a more negative view of the president than they did before this as the shutdown has continued. And, you know, that crosses over, not just with, you know, Democrats¹¹ and independents, but there is a significant chunk¹² of Republicans, about a quarter of Republicans, actually, who say they have a more negative view of the president now.

INSKEEP: And that's not far from the number of Republicans who haven't made up their mind that they'll definitely vote for this president again. There are some Republicans who are in that category right now.

MONTANARO: Yeah. You only have about 30 percent of people who say that they'll definitely vote for President Trump this time around. A president generally wants to try to be closer to 40 percent in that number and definitely below 50 percent in the people who say they definitely won't vote for him.

INSKEEP: Self-identified independents are not with the president much at all?

MONTANARO: No. Not at all. And in fact, this trend has continued from the 2018 elections, where independents have largely looked like Democrats, which is pretty unusual because independents are a group that generally have, over the last couple election cycles, anyway, trended Republican. You might remember Mitt¹³ Romney won independents in the 2012 presidential election and still lost.

INSKEEP: Domenico, thanks for the update. Really appreciate it.

MONTANARO: You're welcome.

INSKEEP: That's NPR political editor Domenico Montanaro.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

9 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

10 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

13 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。