Diagnosing the state of President Donald Trump’s political health
should be a simple matter. The story that the traditional metrics tell
is straightforward.
On a good day for him, Trump’s approval rating
might crack 40 percent. But a more typical day lately will put him in
the mid- to high-30s, while the worst day, so far, had him plunging to
33 percent. Since his inauguration, Trump’s approval in Gallup’s daily
tracker has never exceeded 46 percent, and he only hit that number once —
during his first week on the job.
By any historical standard, these numbers are politically catastrophic. And maybe that’s just what they are. What complicates them, though, is how Trump became president in the first place.
Recall some of the dire polling he faced as a candidate. More than 60 percent of voters didn’t think he was qualified to be president; not even 20 percent thought he had the temperament and personality to serve; more than half of Republicans said they weren’t satisfied with him as their nominee. On Election Day, 60 percent of the electorate said it didn’t like him.
By any historical standard, these were also
politically catastrophic numbers, and yet, well, Trump is in the White
House. In 2016, the numbers didn’t mean quite what we thought they did.
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Source: NBC News
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