The 17 states that still approve of Trump

By Shannon Vavra @ Axios.com, July 24

WITH MAP ILLUSTRATION as per Gallup tracking

[....] Notably, the three states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania) that gave Trump the key 78,000-vote margin that set his path to victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election hold an unfavorable view (below 50% approval) of Trump.

Why it matters: As The Washington Post's Philip Bump writes, "If Trump were to win only states where he had at least 50 percent approval in the first six months of this year, he'd end up with 99 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency." And although not exact, reelection results tend to track with approval polls.

Also see: Yglesias @ Vox.com, July 24:

Despite his boastful tweets, Trump had negative coattails in 2016; Nobody really owes him anything.

[....] Though Trump’s surprise win in 2016 might make him seem like a kind of political savant, the reality is he was a drag on his party, a president who didn’t help anyone get over the finish line — offering nothing but anti-coattails.

Trump underperformed in 2016

The 2016 election left the national GOP in an extremely powerful position, but it was, paradoxically, a fairly underwhelming performance. Republicans lost two Senate seats and half a dozen House seats while their presidential candidate lost the popular vote by 2 million [....]