Copies of Bob Woodward's "Fear" are seen for sale at Costco on September 11, in Arlington, Va. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Poll: More say Trump running chaotic White House after Woodward book, op-ed

Following a week of brutal headlines for the White House, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that explosive allegations from journalist Bob Woodward’s new book and an anonymous New York Times op-ed are affecting voters’ opinions of President Donald Trump’s executive branch.

The majority of those polled, 61 percent, say the Trump administration is run chaotically, compared with 32 percent who say it is running well. Those are markedly worse numbers for the White House than in March, when 54 percent of respondents said the administration was running chaotically and 39 percent said it was running well.


Voters’ perceptions seem to be fueled in part by an unknown senior administration official’s op-ed in the Times that purports that a “quiet resistance” within Trump’s administration has banded together to “frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” as well as to “preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses.”

Roughly 65 percent of those polled have heard “a lot” or “some” about the op-ed, and 42 percent of voters say that when Trump officials publicly criticize the president, it makes them more comfortable with how the administration is running. Only 37 percent say it makes them less comfortable.

In the wake of the op-ed’s release, one-third of voters say Trump’s staff doesn’t serve him well, a decrease from April, when 36 percent said the president was not well served.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

As for Woodward’s book, “Fear” — which paints Trump as a reckless commander in chief lacking the respect of his advisers and Cabinet — a plurality of voters, 41 percent, believe the claims in the veteran Washington reporter’s latest work are credible, compared with the 23 percent of respondents who don’t find them credible.

Trump’s approval rating currently rests at 41 percent, with 56 percent of voters disapproving of the president’s performance on the job. That disparity marks the largest net favorability spread for Trump since the aftermath of the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

Democrats also now have a 10-point lead on the generic congressional ballot — the party’s greatest advantage since last December.

“With less than two months until the midterms, momentum is building for a ‘blue wave’ at the ballot box,” said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s managing director. “Our polling shows voter support for congressional Democrats has reached its highest point this year. This week, 45 percent of voters said they would vote for a Democrat, and 35 percent said they would vote for a Republican.”

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted Sept. 6-9. The poll surveyed 1,988 registered voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents: Toplines: https://politi.co/2x6r6Mv | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2NCgSxM

