# 99% of Trump's Popularity is SESSIONS--and Trump Knows It **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 27, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292 "2017-07-27T23:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/101 "2017-07-31T00:55:34Z")
Holy fuck, could people please stop arguing about approval rating differences smaller than the margin of error on most approval polls? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/102 "2017-07-31T20:26:09Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I guess you missed my post that Trump is doing more to advance the **conservative** agenda than most politicians who have been Republicans all their lives. You misspelled “radical reactionary.” Don’t beat yourself up about it though. People have been doing that since Newt first picked up the Speaker’s gavel. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/103 "2017-07-31T20:56:54Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Just most of the right wing media, is all. [Conservative Media Outlets Warn Trump to Not Mess with Sessions](http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-sessions-conservative-media-trump-2017-7). The right wing media is not Trump’s base. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/104 "2017-07-31T21:47:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The right wing media is not Trump’s base. Really? You don’t think Breitbart, Drudge, Infowars, Zerohedge, Limbaugh and Fox “News,” among others, don’t speak to and for Trump’s base? I wonder who their audience is, then? I listened to a bunch of Alabamans live on the tee vee this morning who had voted for Trump on the strength of Sessions’ support for him. They were not happy at all about Trump’s talk of firing Sessions. Maybe they count. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/105 "2017-08-02T22:25:17Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I listened to a bunch of Alabamans live on the tee vee this morning who had voted for Trump on the strength of Sessions’ support for him. They were not happy at all about Trump’s talk of firing Sessions. Maybe they count. They _do_ count: Trump’s approval has dropped (as predicted in this thread): > [@](#): > > A poll from Quinnipiac University found that only a third of American voters, 33 percent, approve of his performance in office, while 61 percent disapprove of it. This marks his lowest approval and highest disapproval number since he was inaugurated, Quinnipiac said. > > His latest approval rating is down 7 percentage points from the 40 percent approval rating Mr. Trump received in **a similar survey in late June**. [Trump's approval rating slumps to new low - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-slumps-to-new-low/) What changed from late June? Well, for one thing, Trump started making noises about firing Jeff Sessions—the guy who’s actually doing the stuff Trump voters want to see done. Some Trump voters apparently did notice that Trump was itching to can Sessions; it would appear that they’ve taken away the lesson that _Trump himself doesn’t, after all, prioritize those things that are so important to his voters_. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/106 "2017-08-02T22:36:42Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > They _do_ count: Trump’s approval has dropped (as predicted in this thread): > > [Trump's approval rating slumps to new low - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-slumps-to-new-low/) > > What changed from late June? Well, for one thing, Trump started making noises about firing Jeff Sessions—the guy who’s actually doing the stuff Trump voters want to see done. Some Trump voters apparently did notice that Trump was itching to can Sessions; it would appear that they’ve taken away the lesson that _Trump himself doesn’t, after all, prioritize those things that are so important to his voters_. I know they count. 🙂 I keep pretty good tabs on that crowd, who they’re watching, what matters to them. Sessions is a demi-god to these people. (I happen to think he’s going to get squished with the Mueller investigation, but not for awhile. Perjury is perjury, and he committed it in his confirmation hearing.) I posted your link in another popular Pit thread earlier today. I am _so_ pleased to see the drop in his popularity. And yes, Trump’s attack on Sessions has a lot to do with that. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/107 "2017-08-02T22:45:34Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Really? You don’t think Breitbart, Drudge, Infowars, Zerohedge, Limbaugh and Fox “News,” among others, don’t speak to and for Trump’s base? I wonder who their audience is, then? Sessions is inside the beltway stuff. The base has a hundred other reasons to back Trump. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > They _do_ count: Trump’s approval has dropped (as predicted in this thread): > > [Trump's approval rating slumps to new low - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-slumps-to-new-low/) > > What changed from late June? Um, [nothing at all](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html)? June 13: +38.6, -56.0. August 2 +38.4, -56.9. The real question is why is numbers “improved” from June 13 to late June? Improved in quotes because that’s a two point change in each number, essentially meaningless. > [@](#): > > Well, for one thing, Trump started making noises about firing Jeff Sessions—the guy who’s actually doing the stuff Trump voters want to see done. Some Trump voters apparently did notice that Trump was itching to can Sessions; it would appear that they’ve taken away the lesson that _Trump himself doesn’t, after all, prioritize those things that are so important to his voters_. Is there any other conceivable thing besides Sessions, who has been out of the headlines, that might have bumped Trump down a point or two in the last week? _cough_ health care _cough_ Yeah, probably not. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/108 "2017-08-02T22:51:05Z")
Of course ‘health care’–which is why I wrote “for one thing” and “some Trump voters apparently did notice.” ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/109 "2017-08-02T23:15:52Z")
**Exapno Mapcase** , you quoted this from **Sherrerd** : [quote=“Sherrerd, post:94, topic:792292”] [li]Trump has no idea that the core remains devoted to him mainly because of what Sessions has been doing and continues to do.[/li][/QUOTE] And then replied this, of which I have bolded the pertinent point: > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > \*\*The question here in this thread is whether anybody else in the world thinks this is true besides you. Nobody has said yes yet. I don’t believe anybody will. \*\* > > However, you did make a testable proposition: that Trump’s approval rating will “suffer markedly” if Sessions is fired or even moved. So we can check back at a later date and see what happens. And that’s what I initially responded to. Now you’re saying this: > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Sessions is inside the beltway stuff. The base has a hundred other reasons to back Trump. > > Um, [nothing at all](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html)? June 13: +38.6, -56.0. August 2 +38.4, -56.9. The real question is why is numbers “improved” from June 13 to late June? Improved in quotes because that’s a two point change in each number, essentially meaningless. > > \*\*Is there any other conceivable thing besides Sessions, who has been out of the headlines, that might have bumped Trump down a point or two in the last week? \*\*_cough_ health care _cough_ Yeah, probably not. :dubious: Which is different than what you previously said. Of course, health care has had an impact. But health care has been in the debate for months. Literally months. The needle didn’t move till Trump threatened to fire Sessions – and then it dropped by a bunch in a month. It’s also the first time Republicans began to openly criticize Trump. So can you consider that maybe Sessions has something to do with it, too? Like… maybe quite a lot? In general, I think you and I on the same team, but I agree with **Sherrerd** , that Sessions has a _lot_ to do with the support Trump receives. Quinnipac polls showed a drop in support for Trump from around 40% in late June to late July. That’s a huge drop, in a very short amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/110 "2017-08-02T23:27:29Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > In general, I think you and I on the same team, but I agree with **Sherrerd** , that Sessions has a _lot_ to do with the support Trump receives. Quinnipac polls showed a drop in support for Trump from around 40% in late June to late July. That’s a huge drop, in a very short amount of time. I thought we learned long ago never to cite one poll or one pollster. If you did you could cite results like Reuters/Ipsos, which has Trump’s approval _rising_ from 35 to 37 from June 27 to August 1. The only meaningful number is the average of respectable polls, like those on realclearpolitics or 538 (which shows almost exactly the same numbers over the same timeline). There is no huge drop shown in either one. A slight dip attributable to health care can be seen over the past week and nothing more. If Sessions leaves we might see activity in the polls. Since he hasn’t I can’t image how you can read his staying on into any changes at all. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/111 "2017-08-03T06:02:58Z")
Not to bring back this argument, but Gallup has Trump’s approval rating at 36%. Of course, today is 8/2, and the rating is for 8/1, so it’s old news. Wonder if there are any algebra experts who can tell me when the current (but old!) approval rating will fall off the page? (hint for 5th graders: they update the page at noon) His disapproval rating is also a (tied for) historically high 60%. The combination provides him with I believe historically low net approval ratings. Keep it up, Trumpy. You’re doing a heckuva job. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/112 "2017-08-03T06:27:04Z")
Jeffbo probably has a big chunk of the Southern bunch of Trumpniks, what Nietzsche referred to as the _Goobermensch_. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/113 "2017-08-03T11:57:50Z")
Out of curiosity, and because I am an idiot, I decided to go read what freepers think of Mistah Sessions. An oft-repeated sentiment, though the Capitalization is Thankfully not Common (I won’t link because ooky): > [@](#): > > “Our state is not going to forget how our best Senator was taken from us to help out the president in his cabinet and then he is treated like crap.” > > And the rest of us are not going to forgot how Sessions knowing full-well he was going to Recuse himself over nothing accepted the appointment, and deviously neglected to inform the President, and Screwed the rest of the country from getting Justice. So, my theory, such as it is, is that it’s true that the substance of Sessions is what Trump’s base really wants, but the act of firing Sessions would be okay because they associate the good stuff with Trump and the bad stuff with the media. I think the error the OP makes is thinking that there is a cause and effect thing that is happening with this administration–that Trump’s supporters support him for what he is doing or will do rather than for what he is and who he hates. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/114 "2017-08-03T12:08:15Z")
I doubt that half of the people who voted for Donald could tell Jeff Sessions from Irene Ryan. Of those that do, they simply parrot the official White House line: “Sessions recuse self… this leads to Mueller… Sessions BAD!” Maybe Alabamians are upset that their former Senator is treated like a cat at a dog party but the rest of the country doesn’t really care. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/115 "2017-08-03T13:58:49Z")
Well, maybe, but keep in mind that Trumpniks like to think of themselves as a persecuted majority, and this is especially true for “Southerners”. JeffBo is “one of them”, Trump is not. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/116 "2017-08-03T20:45:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I doubt that half of the people who voted for Donald could tell Jeff Sessions from Irene Ryan. I think that’s probably true. But when even those people, asked why they still support Trump, reply ‘because I like what he’s doing’—even those people, though they may not realize it, are referring to what Sessions is doing, rather than any accomplishments of Trump himself. They see the headlines about non-violent Latino immigrants being rousted out of their homes and jobs and then deported, and those Trump voters are thrilled. They see these more recent headlines about the Justice Department going after gay rights and non-white college applicants, and they are thrilled. They see stories about more ‘urban’ non-violent drug offenders receiving harsher sentences, and they are thrilled. That they don’t ID Sessions as the hand behind it–attributing it all to Trump–doesn’t change the fact that if Sessions were to be removed, his replacement is unlikely to be so much a hammer to the non-whites and the gays, as is Jeff Sessions—because the Senate is unlikely to confirm any nominee who’s as hammery as Sessions. Sessions got the job because of his years in the Senate. _There’s no one else who can both do the base-pleasing hammering, and also get confirmed._ Trump doesn’t realize how lucky he was that Sessions exists, and Trump _both does and doesn’t_ realize how much disapproval and backlash he’ll receive from the base if Sessions goes and the hammerin’ stops. Trump can’t let himself know. He can’t tolerate the thought that Sessions is so important to his own approval from his base–which is part of the reason for his days of whining about Sessions without actually pulling the lever to remove Sessions. (Apparently Kelly has put a stop to Trump’s agony by simply telling Trump he’d better leave Sessions alone; Trump wants Kelly’s approval and has, it would seem, decided to believe that what Kelly says is actually what Trump himself wants. Very face-saving.) All of this is basically independent of the question ‘how much of the base realizes that what they ‘like about Trump’ is actually the work of Sessions?’ The answer to that question is certainly relevant in approval-polling, but it’s all chaff in the wind compared with the question of how the base would react to an end to the hammerin’—regardless of who knows about Sessions’ role and who doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/117 "2017-08-03T20:51:38Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That they don’t ID Sessions as the hand behind it–attributing it all to Trump–doesn’t change the fact that if Sessions were to be removed, his replacement is unlikely to be so much a hammer to the non-whites and the gays, as is Jeff Sessions—because the Senate is unlikely to confirm any nominee who’s as hammery as Sessions. Sessions got the job because of his years in the Senate. _There’s no one else who can both do the base-pleasing hammering, and also get confirmed._ I don’t agree with you. F’rinstance, the worst Cabinet nominee was Tom Price (you may not believe me, but you should) and he was confirmed. Not a Senator. Possibly reptilian. The problem with getting an AG confirmed is timing, not that they wouldn’t go for Adolf Hitler with a JD from Tom Cooley. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292/118 "2017-08-03T21:15:33Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t agree with you. F’rinstance, the worst Cabinet nominee was Tom Price (you may not believe me, but you should) and he was confirmed. Not a Senator. Possibly reptilian. Did Tom Price have a record of racism? (Corruption, yes–but sadly, that seems to be a-okay with Republican Senators.) > [@jsgoddess](#): > > The problem with getting an AG confirmed is timing, not that they wouldn’t go for Adolf Hitler with a JD from Tom Cooley. Well, if we’re ever going to have a chance to see your theory tested, it will be in this administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-of-trumps-popularity-is-sessions-and-trump-knows-it/792292.md?page=5)