Stormy Days Not Dampening Trump's Approval Ratings
President Donald Trump appears to be weathering allegations of a sexual liaison with adult film star Stormy Daniels well, with some polling showing his approval ratings up significantly.
Two polls released by CNN and The Associated Press this week show Trump’s job approval rating jumping from 35 percent in February to 42 percent this month.
Additionally, Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll shows the president holding steady at 45 percent approval, which is consistent with the firm’s numbers dating back to last summer.
During the time frame from mid-August 2017 to present, Trump’s approval rating has ranged between 40 and 50 percent in the tracking poll.
The chief executive’s 45 percent rating comes following Daniels’ much publicized interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
During the interview, she claimed she and Trump engaged in consensual sex one evening in 2006.
A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted following the interview found 56 percent believe Trump did have a tryst with the adult film star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Syracuse University professor and media scholar Robert J. Thompson told Morning Consult he believes Americans’ views regarding Trump’s personal morality are already baked in the cake.
Partisans “have formed their sides” and the time for issues of personal morality to swing opinion likely passed during fall 2016 following the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood tape,” Thompson observed.
“I don’t think that interview is going to go down as one of the great influential moments in television history,” he added.
Daniels is suing Trump in order to try to be released from a 2016 nondisclosure agreement for which she was reportedly paid $130,000 not to speak publicly about the alleged liaison.
CNBC reported that Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen is seeking at least $20 million in damages for violation of the agreement from Daniels.
According to the contract’s terms, she must pay $1 million for each time the agreement is broken.
Daniels’ attorney has claimed the contract is void because Trump did not sign it himself.
Asked about the alleged affair on Monday, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah stated, “The president doesn’t believe that any of the claims Ms. Daniels made in the interview are accurate.”
“My understanding is that she signed the statements that conflict with what she said last night,” Shah added.
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