Thought for Today
May. 11th, 2018 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osewalrusDespite the persistent talk of President Donald Trump's uptick in the polls, his numbers have remained remarkably consistent in terms of being underwater. Given the strong economy and recent highly touted foreign policy success in N. Korea, this stability is quite remarkable -- especially in light of the prevailing wisdom that all voters really care about is how they, personally are doing economically, with a smattering of identity/culture war issues as flavoring.
Our cynical punditry is at something of a loss to explain this. Trump supporters and members of Congress trying to run on the economy and the tax cut are downright petulant about it. They blame everything from hyper-partisanship to media conspiracies to deny Trump "credit" for all the "good stuff." While certainly true that you will find Democrats and unaffiliated liberals and progressives eager to explain that the "good news" is both not as good as it looks and not anything Trump has done anyway, this fails to explain why Trump has remained at about the same level of (un)popularity since he was elected. While up from his low point back in December, Trump has yet to win over anyone who didn't at least initially approve of him when he started.
I postulate an answer of stunning simplicity. More people care about decency, corruption and issues having nothing to do with their own, selfish economic well-being than our cynical culture would like to think. Trump is, in fact, performing exactly as advertised. This is his best case scenario. Those who were repulsed by it remain repulsed by it, despite doing better (or at least no worse) economically.
The reverse, of course, is also true. For those who wonder why a President who remains constantly mired in scandal, whose policies toward those in the country illegally have crossed from simply "tough" to cruel and who is actively seeking to cut back on legal immigration, and whose economic policies bear absolutely no resemblance to the "economic populism" on which he campaigned can enjoy an approval rating in the low 40s, these are the people who voted for Trump and support him. For some, these attributes are features, not bugs. For others, they simply are not deal breakers as long as they personally are doing well.
Whether we regard the glass as about 50% full or about 40% empty I leave as an exercise to the reader.
Our cynical punditry is at something of a loss to explain this. Trump supporters and members of Congress trying to run on the economy and the tax cut are downright petulant about it. They blame everything from hyper-partisanship to media conspiracies to deny Trump "credit" for all the "good stuff." While certainly true that you will find Democrats and unaffiliated liberals and progressives eager to explain that the "good news" is both not as good as it looks and not anything Trump has done anyway, this fails to explain why Trump has remained at about the same level of (un)popularity since he was elected. While up from his low point back in December, Trump has yet to win over anyone who didn't at least initially approve of him when he started.
I postulate an answer of stunning simplicity. More people care about decency, corruption and issues having nothing to do with their own, selfish economic well-being than our cynical culture would like to think. Trump is, in fact, performing exactly as advertised. This is his best case scenario. Those who were repulsed by it remain repulsed by it, despite doing better (or at least no worse) economically.
The reverse, of course, is also true. For those who wonder why a President who remains constantly mired in scandal, whose policies toward those in the country illegally have crossed from simply "tough" to cruel and who is actively seeking to cut back on legal immigration, and whose economic policies bear absolutely no resemblance to the "economic populism" on which he campaigned can enjoy an approval rating in the low 40s, these are the people who voted for Trump and support him. For some, these attributes are features, not bugs. For others, they simply are not deal breakers as long as they personally are doing well.
Whether we regard the glass as about 50% full or about 40% empty I leave as an exercise to the reader.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-14 08:30 pm (UTC)