I haven’t bothered writing about President Donald J. Trump’s approval ratings for three months because, as I have long since discovered, they never move much. Always bad, always “below water” (meaning more disapprovers than approvers) but always within hailing distance of where they have been since early in his term.
And that’s still true, but I guess every few months I should let you know that that’s still the case.
His approval ratings got a little (but not much) better in late February, but have not returned to positive territory since the first few days of his term. And they have recently backed off from that small, probably meaningless rally and are, once again, a tiny bit more than 10 percentage points below water.
As of Tuesday morning, based (as I always base them) on the average of many ratings obsessively maintained by the eminent political number crunchers of the Nate Silver-led FiveThirthyEight.com, Trump had returned a little bit more than 10 percentage points under water with 53 percent of the respondents (to many polls) expressing disapproval of how Trump is handling his duties and 42.8 expressing approval.
Those are bad numbers, but normal for Trump. The negative gap of 10 percentage points is boringly normal for this president (we’ve never had a president since the dawn of approval ratings spend his entire term under water).
The latest trend (as you can see by looking at this graphical presentation of 538’s tracking line) is down, but not much and well within the range that he has always maintained. Maybe coronavirus has cost him a few approvers. But the more impressive fact is how stable the ratings always have been, and still are. I’ve about given up wondering what would make them go down or up significantly.
But I thought three months was about long enough to go without an update.
It’s not very likely that there will be any significant decline (or advance) in Trump’s approval numbers from here on out. He is more like a cult leader than a politician, and these numbers prove it.
It will, however, be interesting how the (now certain) global recession will affect the Trumpists’ view of him and his “leadership”. Also comic is Trump foolishly tying himself to the vagaries and vicissitudes of the stock market, of all things. Most presidents are intelligent enough not to do such a thing, but as the least intelligent, most ignorant president of the modern era (and that includes Bush Jr!), plutocrat-wannabe Trump couldn’t resist.
The latest Quinnipiac poll tells the (sad) story of Trumpism:
White males:
Trump 58%, Biden 34%
Everyone else:
Biden 60%, Trump 32%
Ask not for whom the bell tolls….etc.
Makes me almost ashamed to be an “old” white male, 🙁
I’m surprised by the low numbers, what with his masterful, some might say presidential response to Covid 19. I mean, when a guy with his seemingly limitless knowledge gets a hunch and calls the experts idiots for, you know science, well, how can you go wrong. All the supporters here must be very proud of their pres. Covfefe.
So what would make his most fervent supporters drop him? That’s a good question. I thought his death might do it, but all that would do wold be to split his followers into two camps: those who think it’s a hoax; and those who will wait for his imminent return from the dead.
Which is not to say that the spectacle of the two factions arguing would not be highly amusing.
Hilarious.
If you can approve of Trump after his latest ravings regarding the virus, and his idea of buying his way out of a recession, you live in a imaginary world of Trump’s and your creation. You also illustrate the folly of relying exclusively on unevolved old shire men for your leaders.
One of the big problems we now face is that the Trump administration has purged far too many experts, and censored the work of thousands of other experts who have stayed on. So there is not enough “smarts” left at the top even to advise this ignoramus we have as President.
But my California sister, who is an avid Trumpite, insists that Trump’s every word is gospel and that this whole coronavirus thing is a Democratic hoax, a hysteria created by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and their friends in the Main Stream Media. The stock market thing? She claims it’s a globalist plot to destroy Trump’s reelection chances. She’s not giving an inch, and I doubt most Trump cultists will. They have too much emotionally invested in the man.
There are those folks that want a corrupt, dictator, and it is clear, they aren’t moving, better to have someone else think for them, because rationale thinking is not their strong suit, nor do they want it to be. Ignorance is bliss! Its like the C-virus, Trump says stuff almost 180 from what the medical pro’s are saying, just like Dorian, he just makes it up to suit hi ego. At the end of the day folks believe this constant BS, its like basing our leadership on a temper tantrum uneducated 4 year old child, That really doesn’t say much for the intellectual capacity/capability of the average T-supporter. Just calling balls and strikes.