WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2020) An eighty-two percentage point gap between Republican and Democratic voter support for President Donald Trump sets a new record for political polarization in any modern presidency, a new Gallup poll revealed on Tuesday.
"This is the largest degree of political polarization in any presidential year measured by Gallup, surpassing the 79-point party gap in Trump's second year in office," a press release summarizing the poll said.
Tuesday's poll showed 89 percent average Republican job approval ratings throughout 2019, compared with a 7 percent average for Democrat voters - an 82 percentage point gap, the release said.
The fact that the ten most polarized years have all occurred in the past 16 years - affecting both Democratic and Republican presidents - underscores a long-term trend that predates Trump, the release said.
But what separates the Trump administration distant past is how low approval ratings have been from supporters of the opposition party, according to the release.
Trump's approval ratings among Democrats have averaged in the single digits in each of his three years in office, compared with President Barack Obama's average 13 percent approval among Republicans, George W. Bush's 23 percent approval among Democrats and Bill Clinton's 27 percent approval among Republicans, the release said.
Bush and Clinton were the first presidents since Gallup began polling presidential approval in the 1950s to average support below 30 percent among opposition voters, according to Gallup.
