Did Kanye really help Trump’s approval rating?

NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller sits down for his weekly conversation with Gallup's Frank Newport to talk about trends in U.S. opinion.

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Kanye West recently praised President Donald Trump.

Kanye West recently praised President Donald Trump. "The mob can't make me not love him," he said. (Bruce Barton/AP Photo)

NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller sits down for his weekly conversation with Gallup’s Frank Newport to talk about trends in U.S. opinion.

On the Iran nuclear deal, polling done just before President Donald Trump’s announcement shows Americans’ mixed attitudes. Asked directly if the U.S. should withdraw from the agreement, Americans tilt toward “no.” But if given a “don’t know enough to say” option, in another recent poll, the majority chose that option; the rest were split. Most opinions line up along party lines.

Speaking of Trump, his job approval rating has been at 42 percent for two weeks in Gallup tracking, the highest in a year.

During a speech to the NRA, Trump touted his endorsement from Kanye West, who said, “The mob can’t make me not love him.”

“Kanye West must have some power because you probably saw I doubled my African-American poll numbers. It went from 11 to 22 in one week,” he told the crowd. “Thank you, Kanye!”

This reflects one Reuters Ipsos poll (with low sample sizes among black men and an online, nonprobability methodology) showing an increase in his popularity among black men, not blacks in general. More importantly, Gallup tracking and all other polls that we can look at show no dramatic increase among blacks in recent weeks. Trump’s approval has been very constant and very low among blacks in Gallup’s polling since he took office, and is 11 percent over the past two weeks. There is no way to measure what impact Kanye West may — or may not — have had.

How soon will self-driving cars be commonplace on our streets and roads? More than half of those polled say it will be within the next 10 years; one in five said driverless cars will be common place within the next five years.

Would you rush to use a driverless car? Little more than half say they would never, ever use a driverless car while 9 percent say they would as soon as they could. About a third would take a wait and see attitude.

To hear the full conversation, listen to the audio above.

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