President Trump's approval ratings are nothing special.

Actually, they're extraordinarily low by historic standards.

He's clocking it at 44% according to the latest NBC News Wall Street Journal poll.

His support base is highly polarized, with 85% of Republicans behind him and just 9% of Democrats.

If those rates drop steadily for the next two years, and given the level of polarization, they certainly could.

Republicans would be in serious danger of losing the House,

since low presidential approval ratings correlate significantly with House elections.

Then again, Trump's support base may be stable.

Here is why.

According to that same poll, approximately 57% of voters say that Trump is doing about as well as they expected.

Meanwhile, his approval ratings far outclass those of Congress, which has just a 29% approval rating. That's a non-partisan

statistic. And 31% approve of Democrats in Congress, while 32% approve of Republicans in Congress.

The most unpopular figure in American politics, that's still House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,

with 19% of people feeling

positively about her in any way, against 44% who feel negatively about her. The Democratic

Party's negatives double up the Republican parties. This relatively positive feeling toward

Republicans means 60% of respondents are hopeful and optimistic about the future of the country,

only 40% are pessimistic. And that's with a sample

that chose just 37% of respondents who voted for Trump himself in the presidential election.

None of this says that everybody is comfortable with Trump. Fifty-two percent say Trump's chaotic

style is unique to this administration and suggests real problems, but the American people

largely agree with Trump's agenda. 86% say a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

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