How effective has the mainstream media’s negative coverage of President Donald Trump been? Well, if a recent Morning Consult survey of more than 5,000 registered voters is to be believed, then the answer is “very effective.” According to Morning Consult, which has been taking state-by-state monthly polls of Trump’s net approval rating since he took office in January 2017, the president has seen an overall decline in the number of states that rate him favorably.

In January 2017, Trump enjoyed a positive net favorability rating in all but six states. Fast forward to June 2019 and the number of states where Trump holds an overall positive rating has shrunk to 21. This seemingly represents a dramatic shift in the wrong direction for Trump’s 2020 reelection hopes. And honestly, it seems somewhat mind-boggling considering just how successful Trump has been in implementing the agenda he campaigned to achieve.

Taken from a purely outcome-based perspective, Trump’s time in office has been amazingly successful — even more so given all the political resistance he has faced. He has implemented a deregulation crusade and pushed through a Republican tax cut that helped jump-start a near-stalled economy, as record-low unemployment and growing wages attest to. On the judicial front, Trump kept his promise to nominate constitutionally committed justices to both the Supreme Court and appellate courts. On foreign affairs, Trump’s unconventionality has proven to be highly intuitive and effective. He has stood up for the American worker against China’s abusive trade practices, has worked to ease tensions with North Korea, and has confronted Iran by pulling the U.S. out of Barack Obama’s disastrous nuclear agreement.

By most measurements Trump is getting positive results for all Americans, so why the bad poll numbers? Two facts have played against Trump — one of his own making, while the other has been the sole mission of the Left. Trump’s mouth is as much an asset as it is a liability. He can effectively communicate directly with his base in a manner that cuts past all the mainstream media spin, but this also opens him up to great criticism over his tendency to punch down and pick ugly fights. While Trump often correctly sees the big-picture problems, he too often gets caught up in swapping spit with jackasses. The MSM has used this to its advantage to portray him as childish, reckless, and untrustworthy. At the same time, Democrats and their Leftmedia cohorts have preached a nonstop narrative of Trump being a racist, bigoted, illegitimate president who only won the election because of Russian interference.

What this recent survey may indicate is that, irrespective of Trump’s actual record, the Democrat/MSM nonstop disinformation campaign against him is bearing fruit.