‘Morning Joe’: Trump’s Approval Rating Crumbled From ‘Self-Inflicted Wounds’

President Trump would have been better off doing little more than golfing during his first 100 days in office, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said on Monday.

Instead, the “Morning Joe” co-host said the president’s approval rating, according to several new polls, has crumbled because he has tried to do too much between his “Liberation Day” tariff plan and tapping Elon Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.

Politico’s Jonathan Martin agreed with Scarborough, saying “self-inflicted wounds” have hurt the president’s standing among many Americans.

“They’re wars of choice,” Martin said. “If he had not done DOGE [with] Elon Musk, and if he had not done ‘Liberation Day’ and a tariff regime, think about where his numbers would be today.”

He continued: “Think about if he takes the oath on January 20th and the first 100 days he cracks down on illegal immigration; he does executive orders on woke this, woke that. And then, yeah, he brings in a series of CEOs every week to the Oval Office, some domestic, some from abroad, and just jawbones the economy and talks about the big, beautiful jobs he’s creating. He’d be over 50 [percent approval], at least at 50 today. It’s remarkable.”

The “Morning Joe” crew pointed to several new polls showing the president’s support has diminished recently. A joint Washington Post-ABC News poll found 39% of Americans approve of his job performance in April, down from 45% in Feb. That same poll found 39% approve of how he is handling the economy, while 61% said they disapprove; the ABC-WaPo poll is based on 2,464 U.S. adults between April 18-22.

“This is at his own hand, Joe, that he has done this to himself. Not any external forces,” Martin added.

Other polls have shown similar results. A CBS News-YouGov poll released this past weekend showed 42% approved of how the president was handling the economy, down from 51% at the start of March.

Despite the president’s declining approval rating, Scarborough said Democrats are not in a position to take advantage of it. “The Democrats’ brand is as low as its ever been,” Scarborough said.

He noted the ABC-WaPo poll found that Trump still beat Democrats by 7 percentage points — 37% to 30% — when asked “Who do you trust to do a better job handling the country’s main problems?”

“Until Democrats figure out a way to define who they are and what they are in a way that is more — as [pollster] Molly [Murphy] said last hour — in a the way that’s not just opposing Donald Trump. Okay, oppose Donald Trump, fine,” Scarborough said. “Now, what are you going to do for us after you oppose Donald Trump? And right now, Democrats are still scrambling to get that message, and it’s showing in these polls.”

You can watch the full segment below:

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