# Trump Approval Hits 50% **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676 "2017-04-17T23:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/61 "2017-04-21T19:20:25Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > ??? Read what you wrote again, or are you a scaredy-cat? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/62 "2017-04-23T05:14:11Z")
I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/63 "2017-04-23T19:43:36Z")
Again I read it. I reread all my posts in this thread. I either need help having it spelled out for me, or those were baseless points. That said, I’ll share this from today’s WSJ: Disapproval of President Donald Trump Grows in Latest WSJ/NBC News Poll. > **[Disapproval of President Donald Trump Grows in Latest WSJ/NBC News Poll](https://www.wsj.com/articles/disapproval-of-president-donald-trump-grows-in-latest-wsj-nbc-news-poll-1492952400)** > > New poll finds more than half of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance, with six in 10 approving of the Syria bombing and opinion on his handling of the economy about evenly split. But generally speaking, Trump’s directions and methods are correct. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/64 "2017-04-23T19:51:24Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > But generally speaking, Trump’s directions and methods are correct. Could you expand on that? What methods do you think of his are correct? And by what measurement? Do you think he’s doing well in order to get his approval ratings up, or that he’s doing well in being a good president? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/65 "2017-04-23T20:03:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Could you expand on that? What methods do you think of his are correct? And by what measurement? Do you think he’s doing well in order to get his approval ratings up, or that he’s doing well in being a good president? Oh, you’re expecting an explanation? He can’t even tell us how “Hillary had more flaws,” not even listing the obvious and easy ones such as her campaign donations from banking and health care interests. He’s basically a breviloquent apologist with deficient ratiocination who is playing a game of, “I’m rubber, you’re glue…” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/66 "2017-04-23T20:35:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Could you expand on that? What methods do you think of his are correct? And by what measurement? Do you think he’s doing well in order to get his approval ratings up, or that he’s doing well in being a good president? Here is what I like about him and feel he has the ability to lead well on: - Strong economy, strong decision-making ability to improve the engine that is our economy. Strengthen that engine, get the USA back to having a strong economy, and then you can afford to fund the nicer-to-have programs, including the arts, better social programs, better medical care and programs, and better education. It’s like your household – if you earn a higher salary and control spending and stop the financial hemorrhaging, then you’re better able to care for your family, your neighbors and neighborhood, and the charities you want to support. - Strong defense, tough love exercised with certain nations and organizations. I love the Mattis appointment. • _“I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.” • “In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are, if you cannot create harmony—even vicious harmony—on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete. We have got to have officers who can create harmony across all those lines.” • “We Americans have two great powers, the power to intimidate, and the power to inspire.”_ I believe Trump’s position is consistent with these. - Financial acumen, one who has proven successes navigating the financial rules and regulations to succeed in his businesses. Now that he’s on the rule-making side, I look to fairer regs that will encourage more and better American jobs and companies. - A bottom-line financial person. If you can’t afford it, you don’t buy it. - Control of immigration. - Take care of America first, because when you do, you’re in a better position to help others. But if you don’t take care of yourself first, your ability to help others is greatly diminished and compromised. This is true at the country level, the individual person level, and levels in between. Like your household. - Experience in being _ **THE** _ leader, his experience in being a business President and CEO. When you’re the President and CEO, the buck stops at your desk and you ultimately have nobody else to look to for failures. It is lonely at the top, some leaders blame others for failures but that only serves to avoid the fact that they, ultimately, were in charge. This was a huge factor for me in picking Trump over Clinton. She had very little (if any real) experience being _ **the** _ point element, _ **the** _ point person, _ **the** _ one and only one in charge. That said, it has been less than 100 days. It’s been very early in his Presidency. Let’s give the man a chance. It is too early to judge, he has done quite a lot in these early days but it will take time to see if we’re truly headed in the right directions. A US President is like an NFL quarterback. It’s a position that frequently gets too much credit for a win, and too much blame for a loss. That said, there have been great Presidents and there’ve been poor ones. Just like QBs. I did not vote for Obama but when he was elected President, he became my President and it became my job to support him as best I could. You (we people) either lead or you follow. Anything else, and you are in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/67 "2017-04-23T20:36:26Z")
Stranger, I was drafting the above reply. Our posts crossed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/68 "2017-04-23T20:45:09Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > You (we people) either lead or you follow. Anything else, and you are in the way. Ok, then. I plan on being the biggest fucking roadblock he ever saw. As for the rest of you post…all I needed to see was “If you can’t afford it, you don’t buy it.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Trump’s entire existence has been “Buy it and make some poorer person pay for it, by screwing them over however possible. And if that doesn’t work, declare bankruptcy.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/69 "2017-04-23T21:18:55Z")
**Claim:** _Financial acumen, one who has proven successes navigating the financial rules and regulations to succeed in his businesses. Now that he’s on the rule-making side, I look to fairer regs that will encourage more and better American jobs and companies._ Donald Trump has run numerous casinos–a business with a statistically guaranteed gross profit–into the ground, as well as various other ill-considered business ventures (Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, the New Jersey Generals, Trump University, et cetera, ad nauseam. **Fail.** **Claim:** _A bottom-line financial person. If you can’t afford it, you don’t buy it._: You mean, like his yacht or numerous other assets he couldn’t afford and had to sell or borrow against other properties to retain? **Fail.** **Claim:** _Control of immigration._: Executive order immigration bans twice judged unconstitutional, promises to build a wall that Border Control doesn’t want and won’t stop illegal immigration, notwithstanding that Mexico has made it very clear it will not pay for. **Fail.** **Claim:** _Take care of America first, because when you do, you’re in a better position to help others. But if you don’t take care of yourself first, your ability to help others is greatly diminished and compromised. This is true at the country level, the individual person level, and levels in between. Like your household._: Trump’s isolationist trade policies and proposals, if he could enact them, would reduce the flow of goods manufactured with cheap foreign labor while failing to bring manufacturing jobs to the US to replace capacity, notwithstanding that much of that capacity would be provided by automation as it will in his vaunted Carrier plant ‘success’. The end result is that employment based upon trade and logistics of foreign goods will drop, while the cost of the goods themselves will go up, while not bringing a corresponding increase in employment or wage increases. **Fail.** **Claim:** _Experience in being **THE** leader, his experience in being a business President and CEO. When you’re the President and CEO, the buck stops at your desk and you ultimately have nobody else to look to for failures. It is lonely at the top, some leaders blame others for failures but that only serves to avoid the fact that they, ultimately, were in charge. This was a huge factor for me in picking Trump over Clinton. She had very little (if any real) experience being **the** point element, **the** point person, **the** one and only one in charge._: Trump is notorious in blaming others for his failures, a fact that can only be overlooked if your head is firmly ensconced somewhere anatomically impossible. Clinton served as Secretary of State for four years; in that role she had primacy for setting and executing American foreign policy only second to the President, and while you can take issue with her strategy and approach as SecState, she most certainly defined herself in the role and on multiple occasions explicitly took responsibility for failures of US foreign policy. **Double Fail.** **Claim:** _That said, it has been less than 100 days. It’s been very early in his Presidency. Let’s give the man a chance. It is too early to judge, he has done quite a lot in these early days but it will take time to see if we’re truly headed in the right directions._: Trump has boasted from the beginning of his campaign how quickly he was going to make good on various campaign promises that he either did not understand how to enact or had no intention of pushing through. It is Trump who has boasted of his accomplishments in the first month and two months and now hundred days. How much of a “chance” are we supposed to grant him before deciding that he is an imperious blowhard with delusions of competence? 200 days? 500 days? Should we reelect him in 2020 to see if he can get it right next time? **Fail.** Please, reset and continue. Six more frames and I’ll have a perfect game. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/70 "2017-04-23T21:18:58Z")
I love the way how the left discusses things. ETA: Stranger, our posts crossed. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/71 "2017-04-23T21:58:39Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I love the way how the left discusses things. . . . Based on facts. The right ought to try it some day. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/72 "2017-04-23T23:24:27Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Based on facts. The right ought to try it some day. These are facts? > [@silenus](#): > > Ok, then. I plan on being the biggest fucking roadblock he ever saw. > > As for the rest of you post…all I needed to see was “If you can’t afford it, you don’t buy it.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! > > Trump’s entire existence has been “Buy it and make some poorer person pay for it, by screwing them over however possible. And if that doesn’t work, declare bankruptcy.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/73 "2017-04-23T23:29:40Z")
It is closer to an actual fact than anything you’ve presented in this thread. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![dblenks90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dblenks90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dblenks90)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/74 "2017-04-24T02:59:20Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Just speaking for myself here, my opinion of Mr. Trump has never rested on poll numbers. Agreed! Also, the reality is his approval is trending down. Just about all of the data shared here reflects that. Personally I think that’s the more important stat, rather than what the number is. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/75 "2017-04-25T18:25:23Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > ETA: Stranger, our posts crossed. Still waiting for more arguments for how Trump has demonstrated competence and is going to “Make America Great Again!” Take all the space you need. Stranger ---
**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:** [April 25, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/76 "2017-04-25T18:43:44Z")
From a recent [PPP poll](http://tu9srvbirvvtmtikd3d3lnb1ymxpy3bvbgljexbvbgxpbmcuy29t.g00.realclearpolitics.com/g00/2_d3d3LnJlYWxjbGVhcnBvbGl0aWNzLmNvbQ%3D%3D_/TU9SRVBIRVVTMTIkaHR0cDovL3d3dy5wdWJsaWNwb2xpY3lwb2xsaW5nLmNvbS9wZGYvMjAxNy9QUFBfUmVsZWFzZV9OYXRpb25hbF80MjAxNy5wZGY%3D_%24/%24/%24/%24). (p. 17) Do you think that Donald Trump has made America Great Again, or not? ```auto Base Trump Voters Clinton Voters MAGA 35% 78% 2% No MAGA 55% 9% 93% Not sure 10% 13% 5% ``` So around 4 in 5 Trump voters don’t just think Trump is going to make America great again. They think he has already done it. Three months ago America was not great. Today… great! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/77 "2017-04-25T19:18:49Z")
And thus we see the power of pure concentrated salesmanship. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/78 "2017-04-25T19:24:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And thus we see the power of pure concentrated salesmanship. Is that where that smell is coming from? I thought it was coming from that drained out swamp. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/79 "2017-04-25T19:39:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And thus we see the power of pure concentrated salesmanship. ‘Would you buy a used car from this man?’ [Trump Base] YES! We’ll buy many cars! Many cars! Kuraaaaawk!’ . ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676/80 "2017-04-26T00:42:26Z")
Meanwhile Rasmussen and Gallup continue to parallel each other. Since this thread opened Rasmussen’s Trump approval has dropped 4 points back off its recent peak and Gallup’s has dropped about 3. Whatever it is they measure they track pretty nicely with Rasmussen either having an R lean of about R+7 or everyone else (with Gallup as the example) having a D lean of D+7. It does say something when even Rasmussen does not have Republican president up over 50% approval for more than a day in many weeks, and is running strongly disapprove over strongly approve by 12 points. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-approval-hits-50/784676.md?page=5)