President Donald Trump’s “strong approval” among Republicans has dropped from 73 percent in February, shortly after he took office, to 59 percent now. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Poll: Trump support eroding with his base

A new poll shows Donald Trump’s support dropping among his strongest supporters as he hits the 200-day mark of his presidency.

In a fresh survey from CNN, conducted by the independent research company SSRS, Trump’s “strong approval” among Republicans has dropped from 73 percent in February, shortly after he took office, to 59 percent now. Overall, 83 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s performance, with 14 percent disapproving.


Notably, there’s erosion in enthusiasm among important subgroups: Trump’s “strong approval” among whites without a college degree — a group that helped propel him to office — dropped 12 percentage points from February.

The poll mirrors other recent surveys in finding Trump’s overall approval rating underwater. It comes after a month of setbacks and turmoil for the White House — including the failure to pass an Obamacare repeal in the Senate and the replacement of Trump’s chief of staff. CNN and SSRS conducted the survey to mark the 200-day point of Trump's presidency.

Among all respondents, a little more than a third, 38 percent, approve of Trump’s job performance, with 56 percent disapproving. Those who oppose Trump seem to feel more strongly about it, according to the CNN-SSRS poll: 47 percent who disapprove of him said they felt strongly about it, compared with just 24 percent who said they strongly approved of his performance.

The poll shows a significant number of Americans don’t trust what they hear from the White House: 30 percent of respondents said they trust nothing the White House says; just 24 percent said they trust all or most of what the White House says.

There are some positive indicators for Trump. A little more than 50 percent of those surveyed said they feel things are going well in the country. A narrow plurality — 48 percent to 47 percent — approved of Trump’s performance on national security issues.

The CNN-SSRS poll was conducted by telephone Aug. 3-6 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.