Posted on 02/12/2018 10:45:34 AM PST by 11th_VA
Thanks to the improving economy, something very unusual is going on in American politics.
American voters are separating the personal from the political in perhaps the most significant way ever.
President Donald Trump's overall approval rating in most polls is creeping up lately, yet it remains at historically weak levels for a president at this stage in his first term. But at the same time, voters are starting to become more positive about the economy and more willing to give Trump the credit for it.
Several polls are noting this trend, but it's most clear in the latest Quinnipiac College poll released on Feb. 7. That poll still has Trump at a weak 40 percent approval rating. But 70 percent of respondents said the overall economy is "excellent" or "good." That's up from 66 percent in January and just 53 percent in April of last year.
Most importantly for the political discussion, voters in the Quinnipiac poll said Trump was more responsible for the economy than former President Barack Obama. That was by a 48 percent to 41 percent margin. That's a 16 percentage point swing from January when the poll's respondents said President Obama was more responsible by a 49 to 40 percent difference.
These numbers were enough to get poll expert Nate Silver to sit up and take notice:
This seems important -- it's not just that voters increasingly like how Trump is handling the economy, but also that they're giving him more credit for it instead of treating it as having been inherited from Obama....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
•More voters are giving high ratings to the economy and giving President Trump credit for it.
•History shows a candidate's perceived competency is more important than likability.
•That could be enough to save the GOP from losing the House in the 2018 midterms
Thet said the same ting about Reagan in reverse. “He is personally popular, but people don’t like his policies.”
And Hillary STILL has a 98% chance of winning.
MSM to our friends in the Democrat Party:
Make your campaign against Trump intensely PERSONAL. Cause you ain’t gonna win on the issues.
These economic polls show that the American people seem to be coming to terms with the fact that they may not like Trump personally, but they do like his track record on the most crucial issue: the economy. This is literally the "competency over likability" winning formula.
More importantly, the Democrats have long made it clear that they were going to do whatever they could to make Trump and his personal unpopularity their biggest issue in the midterms.
That seemed like a pretty good bet for months, as polls showed the Democrats with unusually large leads in generic congressional election polls. Now that trend has started to reverse at about the same time that Trump's numbers began to get a boost.
But that's not the correlation to focus on the most. It's crucial to remember this is still not about personal popularity. The most dramatic positive move in the polls recently is not for Trump personally, but for his signature tax reform law.
That's what makes this a double whammy for the Democrats. They can't counterattack these economic developments and perceptions simply by continuing their attacks on Trump. It's not Trump the voters are increasingly supporting or even focusing on, it's his policies.
“•That could be enough to save the GOP from losing the House in the 2018 midterms” Basic research shows there is virtually no chance of the Republicans NOT gaining seats in the House and Senate. You can’t beat somebody with nobody and most of the races I’ve researched that are being called “toss ups” are simply NOT toss ups but Republican holds or pick ups. Take a look for yourself.
One point...Trump is a NYCer....Americans hate NYCers. But they stand by Trump!
This also should wake up the GOP....Trump has crushed them.
A couple of things to think about:
When Reagan took office the poll during the election was stark. Carter was considered smarter, nicer, and a better humanitarian. Regan was considered much less erudite, a war monger, and cold to poor people. But he won the election convincingly. People overwhelmingly thought Reagan could lead and Carter could not.
Second, whenever people ask me, how could I vote for Trump when he has all these personality flaws. I say, President is an executive position. I don’t want a politician in there. I don’t want an attorney in there. I want a chief executive. And I want one who knows that the people not the press and not the billionaires are the stock holders of the country. Trump may not be perfect, but at least he knows what the goal is.
DC politicians have long ago stopped caring about doing what helps the American people and have, instead, focused ONLY about gaining and staying in power. Even if a policy helps America, they will be against it if they feel that the opposition party will gain from it. And at this point, it doesn’t matter which party it is.
Then Showtime has “Our Cartoon President” series
The President is lampooned in this animated series from Stephen Colbert.
Genre:
Comedy
Network:
Showtime
Premiere Date:
Feb 11, 2018
Exec. Producers:
Stephen Colbert, Chris Licht, R.J. Fried
It shows as rotten for the most part in ratings.
A letter to the Editor of the WSJ today points out that GWB was subjected to a full-court press assault on the legitimacy of his victory, just as Trump has been . . . and that GWB was the only POTUS in recent history whose party's congressional delegation gained from his first midterm election.GWB’s party may have profited politically from the reaction to 9/11. Trump’s party, OTOH, is profiting politically from the benefits of its own tax cut policy.
No way this midterm is a slam-dunk for the donkeys. At least not from this distance.
Too funny - last week his approval ratings were ahead of Obama's for the same time period.
They are hoping that they can convince folks it's better to vote for someone you find "appealing" but who does bad things to you than to vote for someone who does good things you like but who you find "unappealing" - brain check time for CNBC....
Obama won on personality not policy. Trump won on policy.
Bush League Republicans still control most of the apparatus of the GOP, state parties, the NRSC, the NRCC, etc.
Most of the Senate are Bush League Republicans.
They mean to keep it that way.
In AZ they are using Arpaio’s ego to sneak in McSally as Flake replacement as Amnesty Senator.
“These numbers were enough to get poll expert Nate Silver to sit up and take notice:”
The overrated guesser. He got the 2012 elections right but the next 6 midterms and general election, he was dead wrong and far off on his numbers. Go back to calculating odds on the lotto tickets.
If we’re basing “popularity” on polls, that would be the problem. The MSM highlights anyone making negative comments about Trump (see: Olympics coverage), masking the true support he has in this country.
Yep
And to this very day, they can give a Rat’s Behind about the average Joe & Mary, Jose & Maria. It’s ALL about THEM and the Country and its people be DAMNED
BTTT!
Love the President to bits, but as a Michigander I have not quite got past the accent.
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