How does Trump get to be, in fact, more popular than his approval numbers? A clue to this lies in a recent Rasmussen Poll:
Such a phenomenon would lead such a candidate to have lower approval ratings than normal because a number of their own party would view such a President as "half a Republican". The important thing is that no one views Trump as some sort of crypto-Democrat. This means that, policy-wise, he can really offer something to everybody.
What keeps Republicans in line for Trump is that everything is tilted to the RIGHT. This is like Nixon in 1972; he took some positions that are, in retrospect, considered liberal, but Nixon was an authoritarian Republican who took a position and looked RIGHTWARD. That's what Trump is doing. "Tilt everything to the right!" was, I believe, a directive for Nixon's re-election campaign.
So while Trump positions himself in a place different than conservative orthodoxy may dictate, he does tilt his issue positions to the right. He's seen as looking to the right. This keeps conservatives who may not "approve" of him in line, and why they'll "approve" of him in the way that counts; by voting Trump/Pence in 2020.
Poll
