Opinion | Why would any GOP candidate stick with Trump?

The latest YouGov poll reports:

Presidents often return from foreign trips with a boost in approval. But that hasn’t happened for President Trump. In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll the President’s approval rating dropped to what is now his all-time low. Just 34% of Americans approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job; 55% disapprove.

That might be because he sided with Vladimir Putin over our intelligence community’s assessment on Russia hacking, groveled in front of the Chinese president and came back with so little his “big news” announcement on Wednesday consisted of absolutely no news. A pathetic attempt to deflect widespread criticism of the trip does not seem likely to win praise from voters. In fact, his foreign policy rating is atrocious. (YouGov reports that “half of Americans – more than ever before – disapprove of the way the President is handling foreign policy. Only a third approve.”)

YouGov found that intensity is with Trump critics, and support from his own party, while high, is well below the 80 percent rating common for presidents. (“Only 17%, matching the lowest percentage ever, say they strongly approve. More than twice as many, 43%, strongly disapprove.) He has 75 percent approval among Republicans and 71 percent among conservatives, which are lower levels of support than most polls have shown. In addition to foreign policy, he gets rotten ratings on other issues. “Nearly half, more than ever before, disapprove of his performance on [the tax] issue, while only 35% approval. Even on issues like the economy and terrorism, where the public has frequently provided positive assessments of the President’s performance, the balance of opinion is now negative.”

It's like the movie "Mean Girls," except it's President Trump's tour of Asia. This one's for all the "haters and fools" out there. (Video: Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

When one looks closer, Trump’s numbers should further cheer Democrats. He gets approval from only 28 percent of women, 22 percent of people under 30 years old and 27 percent of those under 45 years old. Only 32 percent of independents approve of the job he is doing.

His low standing in the polls — plus his entirely erratic positioning on taxes — might explain why aside from generic cheerleading he is so uninvolved in the tax bill. (Distance also preserves his ability to excoriate Republicans if they fail to pass a bill or to criticize one or both houses for unpopular measures.)

It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Trump is a heavy weight around the necks of Republicans. That surely was the case in elections around the country on Nov. 7.

Maybe association with Trump becomes less worrisome if the tax bill passes and becomes popular overnight. For now, however, it’s not clear why Republicans shouldn’t run as quickly as possible away from his toxic positions and persona.

It doesn’t help when his government jet-setting Treasury Secretary and wife grin ear to ear holding a sheet of dollar bills, but even without the visual symbol, Republicans might do well to rework the tax bill that so obviously favors the rich and big corporations. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) set an example they might want to follow. (“Unfortunately, neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment [for small business], so I do not support either in their current versions,” he said.)

Doing the president’s bidding doesn’t seem like a strategy designed to preserve House and Senate majorities.