It may take a lot to publicly abandon Trump but the signs of disillusionment are already there. Note that in each of these instances, some Republicans are breaking away already—21 percent did not approve of his handling of Russia; 26 percent believed President Obama didn’t tap his phones.
Trump’s low point of 77 percent approval among Republicans came in December 2017 when he was campaigning for Senate candidate and alleged child abuser Roy Moore. Just under half of Republicans approve of the job Robert Mueller is doing, despite his personal approval tanking.
As for that probe, it’s hard to tell what Mueller could uncover to truly turn the tide among the party faithful. In 1998, Democrats largely stood by Bill Clinton even as details emerged of his sexual misconduct with a White House intern, building on a long narrative of marital infidelity and much worse allegations. In fact, he grew more popular in his post-presidency, and even in the #MeToo era has largely gone unscathed. By contrast, as the Senate Watergate hearings began in 1973, Richard Nixon still enjoyed near 90 percent approval among Republicans, only to watch that drop to near 50 percent at the time of impeachment.
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