{"id":9276,"date":"2021-01-20T13:59:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T18:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/how-we-know-the-drop-in-trumps-approval-rating-in-january-reflected-a-real-shift-in-public-opinion\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T23:43:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:43:57","slug":"how-we-know-the-drop-in-trumps-approval-rating-in-january-reflected-a-real-shift-in-public-opinion","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/01\/20\/how-we-know-the-drop-in-trumps-approval-rating-in-january-reflected-a-real-shift-in-public-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"How we know the drop in Trump\u2019s approval rating in January reflected a real shift in public opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donald Trump\u2019s final job approval rating as president was 29% in a Pew Research Center poll<\/a> released last week, the lowest of his presidency and a 9 percentage point drop since August,<\/a> when 38% of U.S. adults approved. The decrease stood out because even some of the momentous events of the past four years did not affect Trump\u2019s approval rating<\/a> very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trump\u2019s<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So it was difficult to predict how the events of Jan. 6 \u2013 when rioters rampaged through the U.S. Capitol \u2013 might affect the public\u2019s view of Trump in the Center\u2019s survey, which was conducted in the days afterward. The 9-point fall in approval was the largest change between two Pew Research Center polls since Trump took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the decline occurred among Republicans, the majority of whom were strongly supportive of Trump. How can we know that the change reflected a real shift in public opinion and was not an artifact of the poll itself, such as the possibility that some Republicans were less willing to be surveyed because of the events of Jan. 6?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>