film / tv / substack / social media / lists / web / celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / substack / web / celeb

the-good-fight.jpg

Donald Trump's Approval Ratings Are Historically Bad

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | March 20, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | March 20, 2017 |


This week will be a big test for President Trump. He’s put his weight behind a health care bill that Paul Ryan is trying to shove through the House this week, despite it having only 24 percent approval from Americans and despite the fact that the bill is already all but dead in the Senate. Trump will also continue to push Congress to adopt a budget blueprint that is immensely unpopular all across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, Neil Gorsuch begins his confirmation hearings today, which could end up being a referendum on Donald Trump’s popularity.

Spoiler alert: He is not popular. The base that Trump continues to play toward is still there — despite growing concern from the blue-collar that Trump may not be supporting their interests — but his approval ratings continue to sink. At the 60 day mark, Trump’s approval rating has dropped to a historically low 37 percent, according to Gallup.

Screen Shot 2017-03-20 at 6.41.45 AM.jpg

For comparison’s sake, here are the approval ratings for every President since Jimmy Carter at the 60-day mark.

Jimmy Carter 75
Ronald Reagan 60
George HW Bush 56
Bill Clinton 53
George W Bush 58
Barack Obama 63
Donald Trump 37

That’s bad, and yet I think many Americans — like myself — wonder how Donald Trump’s approval ratings could still be as high as 37 percent, after two months of almost daily bad headlines.

Still, when it comes to those under the age of 30, the numbers are even graver for the President. He has only a 22 percent approval rating, and a whopping 58 percent of Americans under the age of 30 believe that he is an “illegitimate” President.

Meanwhile, while Trump’s proposals on the budget, health care, the Wall, immigration, and trade continue to be terrifying, it’s important to note that — despite a Republican-led Congress — Trump still hasn’t been able to push any significant legislation through Congress, thanks in part to record low unpopularity, bad policies, and controversies of his own making. It’s Trump’s efforts in foreign diplomacy — where Congressional approval is not as necessary — that should be most concerning because he has no f**king idea what he’s doing, nor does it seem that his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, does either.

The upside — for the rest of the world, at least — is that Donald Trump’s growing unpopularity in America has slowed the rise of populism around the rest of the globe, where nationalistic figures have lost elections in Austria and the Netherlands, while Martin Schulz — a member of the Socialist Democratic Party in Germany taking on the conservative Angela Merkel — won 100 percent of the votes cast in his convention. So far, he’s largely running on opposition to Donald Trump.

In other words, the future of America looks good, and the rest of the world is holding their own. We just have to survive the present Administration. Hopefully, Trump’s approval ratings — which continue to sink — will keep him neutered for the better part of four years.

Today’s header is brought to you by Rose Leslie in The Good Fight, the Good Wife spin-off that I think has actually improved significantly upon the last several seasons of the parent series, thanks to Leslie, Cush Jumbo, and the series’ MVP, Sarah Steele. No one misses Alicia Florick.