Gallup reported this week that President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating have hit a record high of 58 percent. Those who approve of the job Trump is doing hit a record low of 37 percent.
Meanwhile, Gallup reported a few days earlier that more Americans than ever “are concerned about global warming, believe it is occurring, consider it a serious threat, and say it is caused by human activity.”
The new president appears to be helping to drive the record worry Americans have about the future of our climate.
The number of Americans who worried a “great deal” about global warming was up 8 percentage points to 45 percent — an all-time high.
“Anxiety about President Donald Trump’s environmental stance could be a factor in Americans’ heightened concern about global warming this year,” Gallup noted.
Gallup noted that the rise in extreme weather, especially “record-breaking warm temperatures in the U.S. in recent years,” might also play a role in the increase. The latest polling took place March 1 through 5 “on the heels of the country’s second-warmest February on record.”
Some 57 percent of those surveyed said “Trump — who has called global warming a ‘hoax’ — will do a poor job of protecting the environment,” which “far exceeds” the numbers who made the same prediction for Barack Obama or George W. Bush at the start of their first terms.
But despite this — or perhaps because of it — the partisan divide on climate concern is actually deepening.
Republican concern about global warming is the same as it was in 2016, but concern by independents jumped a remarkable 15 percentage points.
Concern from Democrats continues to rise with the temperatures.