# President Trump's approval rating at the highest it's been in many months. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 24, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457 "2018-10-24T21:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/21 "2018-10-24T23:48:44Z")
It might be Kavanaugh, but I think it’s simpler than that. Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line. There’s an election in a couple weeks and Republicans are doing their falling in line thing. It’s how they roll. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/22 "2018-10-25T00:24:38Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > LOL at this thread I know, right? All these butthurt liborat cuckflakes twisting themselves into gluten-free pretzels to avoid admitting the obvious truth: Donald Trump is _the man_. He totally pwned the naysayers and came through on every one of his promises. People laughed when he said he knew more than his own generals, that trade wars were easy to win, that he’d quickly and easily replace Obamacare with “something terrific,” that he’s a stable genius and not a “fucking moron.” Well, who’s laughing now? Is it any wonder that faithful Trumpketeers like the OP are keen to crow about their leader’s trumphant ascendency? There’s enough egg on my face to cause a vegan riot! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/23 "2018-10-25T00:43:10Z")
Actually, I put most of it down to the fact that he’s doing far fewer “stupid” things. By that, I mean his Administration isn’t being bashed nearly so often as it was even earlier in the year. His latest initiatives have generally borne some fruit (Kavanaugh was confirmed, North Korea is nominally playing ball with us, the markets are not going nuts over tariffs, NAFTA was successfully re-negotiated, etc.). We aren’t getting bombarded with story after story of things the Administration is doing being tied up in courts and subject to adverse determinations by judges. So he’s not looking like quite such a fool, he’s accomplishing things his base demanded, and the Democrats have run out of things to highlight that make him seem like an incompetent boob. Not shocking that he’s settled in at a nice, comfortable number consistent with the general percentage of the population who identify as strongly Republican. ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/24 "2018-10-25T00:48:41Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I know, right? All these butthurt liborat cuckflakes twisting themselves into gluten-free pretzels to avoid admitting the obvious truth: Donald Trump is _the man_. He totally pwned the naysayers and came through on every one of his promises. People laughed when he said he knew more than his own generals, that trade wars were easy to win, that he’d quickly and easily replace Obamacare with “something terrific,” that he’s a stable genius and not a “fucking moron.” Well, who’s laughing now? > > Is it any wonder that faithful Trumpketeers like the OP are keen to crow about their leader’s trumphant ascendency? There’s enough egg on my face to cause a vegan riot! He’s clearly giving Republicans what they really want, but he also has not fulfilled almost any of his campaign promises. He hasn’t repealed and replaced Obamacare, “built the wall!”, banned all muslims from entering the country (or “figured out what the hell is going on” for that matter), invested in infrastructure or reduced drug prices. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/25 "2018-10-25T01:19:02Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/26 "2018-10-25T01:21:49Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > … he also has not fulfilled almost any of his campaign promises. … [WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-promise-tracker/) and [PoltiFact](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/rulings/promise-kept/) both credit him with 14 “promises kept”. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/27 "2018-10-25T01:28:27Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-promise-tracker/) and [PoltiFact](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/rulings/promise-kept/) both credit him with 14 “promises kept”. He ran on two main promises. “Lock her up”and “build a wall that Mexico pays for. And don’t forget “Drain the Swamp!” ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/28 "2018-10-25T01:58:40Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-promise-tracker/) and [PoltiFact](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/rulings/promise-kept/) both credit him with 14 “promises kept”. Politifact lists 14 promises as kept out of over 100. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/29 "2018-10-25T02:13:05Z")
I think the effect of the Kavanaugh hearings was to mend the fence between Trumpists and ‘Never Trumpers’. There’s your 5% gain among Republicans. The Kavanaugh hearing appeared to slightly help Trump among independents. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/30 "2018-10-25T02:27:02Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > Politifact lists 14 promises as kept out of over 100. Shhh. You’re ruining the illusion. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/31 "2018-10-25T02:36:52Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > If I’m reading [Nate Silver’s graph](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings) right, President Trump’s approval rating (currently 42.8%) is the highest it’s been since the middle of March 2017 (about 8 weeks after he took office). Anyone have an explanation or thoughts on why it’s up now? We’ve somehow managed to get through nearly two years of his presidency without the country collapsing in a heap? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/32 "2018-10-25T03:52:49Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > […] the markets are not going nuts over tariffs […] The last two days have wiped out any gains in 2018. It might bounce back, but this is a really weird time to make that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/33 "2018-10-25T04:11:01Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > The last two days have wiped out any gains in 2018. It might bounce back, but this is a really weird time to make that statement. One could argue that it’s not (just) tariffs doing that damage. I agree that it’s a weird time to talk about market strength, however. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/34 "2018-10-25T04:18:29Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > Politifact lists 14 promises as kept out of over 100. Yes and 40 as “in the works” and only 8 as “broken”. Do you feel that, 21 or so months into his administration, “he also has not fulfilled almost any of his campaign promises” is an accurate representation of the reality of the situation? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/35 "2018-10-25T04:34:21Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Do you feel that, 21 or so months into his administration, “he also has not fulfilled almost any of his campaign promises” is an accurate representation of the reality of the situation? We’re not doing the math for you. You figure out whether 14 is almost all of 100 on your own. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/36 "2018-10-25T07:12:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > We’re not doing the math for you. You figure out whether 14 is almost all of 100 on your own. You’re confused. No one said “almost all” (except you). ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/37 "2018-10-25T08:38:30Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > You’re confused. No one said “almost all” (except you). No one said “none” either, though you’ve successfully vanquished that strawman. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/38 "2018-10-25T09:42:58Z")
I’ll suggest 6 things: 1. Kavanaugh (though, this is regressing towards the mean steadily) 2. Successful advertising by the Republican party - particularly, Trump and Gaetz’s creation of a variety of bogey men to scare the party base back into marching step. 3. The Democrats have failed to propose any notable policy positions, to sell to the public. I couldn’t tell you what they’re selling and I’m about as up-to-date on the news as anyone in the country. So they have, in essence, failed to counter the Republican advertising. 4. The Leftist Media has successfully played into the hands of the right by, in fact, being a Leftist media. They’ve lost the trust of most of the country so they are failing to shoot down the Republican bogey men in any way. 5. Regression towards the mean. 6. The Trump presidency is actually **good** for the first time since it started. I suspect that this is largely a matter that Bolton and Kushner have taken over and everyone’s just figured out how to work around Trump, but they’ve renegotiated NAFTA, are pulling out of the postage system, and are putting the screws to Saudi Arabia. For the few people who are aware of what’s actually going on in the world, and are honest about it, the Trump administration is in its golden era. I don’t expect it to last, and I strongly doubt that the upsides of the Trump presidency will ever match the legacies that he leaves behind, but it is currently doing some solid things. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/39 "2018-10-25T09:52:25Z")
Don’t know that they are “regressing”, they’ve pretty much always had a mean streak a mile wide. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457/40 "2018-10-25T09:56:06Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I can’t tell if you’re kidding here. 42.8% is not a high approval rating, is it? I mean, it is relative to 38% or wherever he bottomed out at, but no one would have said Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, LBJ, Kennedy, etc., had a high approval rating when it was at 42.8%. I believe Obama had the same approval rating at this point in his Presidency. [Link, but three months old.](https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/trump-approval-rating-gallup-poll-obama-popularity/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-trumps-approval-rating-at-the-highest-its-been-in-many-months-why/823457.md?page=3)