Weekly political update – Where news & perceptions meet reality
Bottom Line: This is your weekly reality check. What's really going on with public opinion of the president and our view of the direction of the country? Here it is...
- Trump's lowest rating: 37% approval (8/4/17)
- Trump highest approval rating: 45% approval (6/7/19)
- Trump's current rating: 45% approval
Record low minority unemployment, record high stock market, record high earnings, recording personal net worth. You name it economically and it’s happening. In fact, somehow or another we have the perfect economy. Near record low mortgage and interest rates with a great economy. Additionally, while very much a continued struggle, President Trump continues to make progress on foreign trade policy (remember just five weeks ago when all of the yahoos were trying to scare you about the Chinese tariffs), in addition to significant progress having already been made with North Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Chile and Brazil. Add in the success against ISIS and far less war and conflict in Syria, Iraq, etc. and if the president’s name wasn’t Donald Trump and we had an honest education establishment and news media, you might be hearing about record high approval ratings. Instead, he’ll settle for adding a point to his approval rating this week which puts him essentially tied for the highest approval of his presidency.
With the 2020 Democrats officially in the primary cycle, more attention will be paid to the president’s performance and you’ll doubtlessly hear many hypothetical matchups going forward. Remember that for now, none of them are predictive and won’t be until the primary process has concluded. What is instructive is a president’s relative strength throughout the process. Presidential election cycles with incumbent presidents running for re-election are mostly a referendum on their performance.
It’s been the case throughout his term thus far, that the more informed and engaged someone is politically, the more likely they are to approve of President Trump. That remains the case once again this week.
- Adult only samples averaged: N/A
- Registered voters: 44%
- Likely voters: 48%
What you never hear reported are the ratings of the Democratic leaders opposing him. Let’s just say they’d need a huge push of support to simply catch President Trump’s approval ratings. Here’s the latest...
- Pelosi: 37%
- Schumer: 28%
What does that tell you about what’s really going on in this country? Pelosi trails President Trump’s approval by eight points and Schumer by 17. It’s not exactly as though people are picking up what they’re putting down.
Looking at the direction of the country this week...
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
- Right Direction: 30%
Today:
- Right Direction: 37%
Overall, we’re 7% collectively more optimistic than we were during the Obama administration.