# Why are Trump and the Republicans polling better now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 5, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255 "2018-02-05T20:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/61 "2018-02-06T01:32:47Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m comfortable in my knowledge that the economy has done significantly better under Trump than Obama. I thought I might be able to fight some of your ignorance, but I suspect in this case it’s willful and will not be dislodged, so carry on. I have no problem conceding that the economy has performed well since Trump took office – I don’t think there’s any debating that point. But to give a president credit for an economy presumably requires connecting economic performance to economic policies, so which economic policies (or evidence) otherwise are you using to demonstrate the superiority of Trump’s economic policies compared to those of his predecessor? What metrics are you using? Also, are you comparing the last two quarters of 2017 to an 8-year term? That’s like comparing the winner of a 100-meter sprint to the winner of a marathon. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/62 "2018-02-06T01:36:39Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The tax deal at the end of the year was significant in that it shaped people’s perceptions of the president in a major way. I think that’s it, except that I wouldn’t use the word major. Only a couple percent of Americans shifted. Between now and November, they’ll probably shift back once or twice. Now, that couple of percent is the difference between the Democrats just gaining a few seats vs. getting control of the House of Representatives and, possibly, the Senate. > [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The other possibility I see is that the economy actually has markedly improved under Trump . . . If you are just trying to explain why the generic congressional horse race polls shifted a bit, I think that’s reasonable. I just hope you aren’t trying to say that the business cycle economic weather is a legitimate reason to excuse [Trumpian violation of democratic norms](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/boycott-the-gop/550907/). If you are claiming the latter: At the same time, the economy has improved even more markedly in Laos, despite it still being a communist command economy under a dictatorship far worse than anything Trump plans. The US President can’t control the business cycle. It’s primarily an international phenonenon. A Mao tse-Tung can single handedly ruin an economy, but Trump, bad as he is, just isn’t in that category. The current economic expansion has been going on for an unusally long time. There probably will be an recession in the next couple years no matter what Trump does. It won’t be his fault. That’s not to say Trump’s economic policies are long-term good. To the contrary, the tax cuts, coming at just the wrong time in the economic cycle, will make it hard to cut further when it is really needed. You do remember that the last recession was less bad in the US than in most countries, and why, right? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/63 "2018-02-06T01:38:01Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m comfortable in my knowledge that the economy has done significantly better under Trump than Obama. I thought I might be able to fight some of your ignorance, but I suspect in this case it’s willful and will not be dislodged, so carry on. I’m not so sure, since Obama started his term at the height of the worst economic crash since the Great Depression. So I thought I’d look it up: Change in the Dow from inauguration days to Jan 5 of second term year: Trump: 19,827.3 to 25,075.1 26 percent increase Obama: 7,949.1 to 10,572 33 percent increase Advantage: Obama > **[How Trump, Obama compare on the stock market](https://www.politifact.com/article/2018/jan/08/how-trump-obama-compare-stock-market/)** > > President Donald Trump likes to boast that he and his achievements are the biggest and the best, and not just about the Job Growth: Trump: 1.84 million jobs first, 11 months in office Obama: 2.09 million jobs, last 11 months in office Advantage: Obama > **[Trump's first-year jobs record was strong. Just not as strong as Obama's last...](https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/05/news/economy/trump-obama-jobs/index.html)** > > Employers added about 2 million jobs during Trump's first year in office, but that fell just short of Obama's record his final year in office. Note that unemployment started at around 7.8% under Obama and 4.8% under Trump. Annual GDP Growth: Trump: 2.3% over first year Obama: Starting in 2010, stayed between 1.6% and 2.9%. Advantage: Tie > **[Donald Trump Says U.S. Never Hit 3% GDP Growth Under Obama — But It's Misleading](https://fortune.com/2017/08/30/donald-trump-springfield-mo-3-gdp/)** > > It's apples to oranges > **[Trump’s first year of GDP growth is very, very average | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/politics/trump-economic-growth-gdp/index.html)** > > President Donald Trump took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday morning with an announcement: “After years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth.” But I would argue that Trump only has to keep things “just ok”. As I’ve said before, as long as we don’t get involved in a major war and the economy doesn’t tank, then Trump is just some jerky guy who ran the country for 4 to 8 years. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/64 "2018-02-06T01:41:51Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I have no problem conceding that the economy has performed well since Trump took office – I don’t think there’s any debating that point. Good. I agree. > [@asahi](#): > > But to give a president credit for an economy presumably requires connecting economic performance to economic policies, so which economic policies (or evidence) otherwise are you using to demonstrate the superiority of Trump’s economic policies compared to those of his predecessor? Deregulation and tax cuts. But this question touches on a broader point: I generally think presidents generally get entirely too much credit / blame for the economy under their watch. I know it seems odd at this point, where I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon arguing that the economy has performed well under Trump, but I got started on that track largely responding to **Evil Economist** ’s posts. > [@asahi](#): > > What metrics are you using? Also, are you comparing the last two quarters of 2017 to an 8-year term? That’s like comparing the winner of a 100-meter sprint to the winner of a marathon. I was trying to compare 2017 to 2016, like i did in post #39, because I think that’s a reasonably-decent apples-to-apples comparison. I understand we’re only one year into Trump’s first term, and that limits the amount of material we have to compare to the full 8 years of the Obama administration. ---
**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:** [February 6, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/65 "2018-02-06T01:43:44Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I know it seems odd at this point, where I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon arguing that the economy has performed well under Trump, but I got started on that track largely responding to **Evil Economist** ’s posts. Especially weird, because I didn’t argue that the economy was doing badly under Trump. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/66 "2018-02-06T01:46:09Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’m not so sure, since Obama started his term at the height of the worst economic crash since the Great Depression. So I thought I’d look it up: > Change in the Dow from inauguration days to Jan 5 of second term year: > Trump: 19,827.3 to 25,075.1 > 26 percent increase > > Obama: 7,949.1 to 10,572 > 33 percent increase > Advantage: Obama > [PolitiFact | How Donald Trump, Barack Obama compare on the stock market](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jan/08/how-trump-obama-compare-stock-market/) > Job Growth: > Trump: 1.84 million jobs first, 11 months in office > > Obama: 2.09 million jobs, last 11 months in office > Advantage: Obama > [Trump's first-year jobs record was strong. Just not as strong as Obama's last year](http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/05/news/economy/trump-obama-jobs/index.html) > > Note that unemployment started at around 7.8% under Obama and 4.8% under Trump. > Annual GDP Growth: > Trump: 2.3% over first year > > Obama: Starting in 2010, stayed between 1.6% and 2.9%. > Advantage: Tie > > [Donald Trump Misleads on Obama Era GDP Growth | Fortune](http://fortune.com/2017/08/30/donald-trump-springfield-mo-3-gdp/) > [https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/politics/trump-economic-growth-gdp/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/politics/trump-economic-growth-gdp/index.html) > > But I would argue that Trump only has to keep things “just ok”. As I’ve said before, as long as we don’t get involved in a major war and the economy doesn’t tank, then Trump is just some jerky guy who ran the country for 4 to 8 years. This is apples-to-oranges cherry-picking nonsense. For the Dow you’re comparing 2009 to 2017. For jobs it’s 2016 to 2017. For GDP you suddenly switch to “starting in 2010”. Something seems amiss. Wonder what that could be? Oh, that’s right, GDP and jobs were down in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/67 "2018-02-06T01:59:48Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I was trying to compare 2017 to 2016, like i did in post #39, because I think that’s a reasonably-decent apples-to-apples comparison. I understand we’re only one year into Trump’s first term, and that limits the amount of material we have to compare to the full 8 years of the Obama administration. You’re not comparing apple to apples. 2016 would be apples totally raised and picked by Obama. 2017 would almost totally be apples raised and picked by…wait for it…Obama! Come back and bring 2018 apples in about a year. Them might be Dumbo’s apples. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/68 "2018-02-06T02:04:41Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > … Come back and bring 2018 apples in about a year. Them might be Dumbo’s apples. There’s a joke about big ears just begging to be made here. If they’re good or better, I suspect people around here will still view them as Obama’s apples, but I’m not unsympathetic to the view that we’ll have to wait a few more years to have a really good idea of how the economy has performed under Trump, and I’m also not unsympathetic to the view that it’s largely something that happens outside of the President’s control (which view rarely prevents me from making counter-arguments to claims about any particular president’s economic performance). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/69 "2018-02-06T02:25:53Z")
I’m about 99.9998% sure that this entire point-counterpoint on who is responsible for the economy has nothing to do with the question in the OP. Trump’s approval has done from terrible to bad over the last six weeks. I can’t see how the last 12 or 24 or 160 months of economic activity suddenly caused 8% of Americans to start liking Trump more in mid-December. I’m stumped as to why Trump has had a mini-rally over the last month and a half. My best guess is that there are a decent number of Trump voters who gradually turned against him over the course of the disasterous year, who then saw the tax cut enacted and thought to themselves, “Oh, that’s why I voted for the guy!” It doesn’t seem to me that this is the basis for a sustained increase in approval. Seems more likely that there would be a euphoric bump once the bill was passed, and then maybe a year later when people start doing their taxes, maybe some will like what they see (or maybe not). ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/70 "2018-02-06T02:32:48Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Deregulation and tax cuts. But this question touches on a broader point: I generally think presidents generally get entirely too much credit / blame for the economy under their watch. I know it seems odd at this point, where I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon arguing that the economy has performed well under Trump, but I got started on that track largely responding to **Evil Economist** ’s posts. Tax cuts are probably a short-term stimulus - I don’t necessarily disagree with that. But they’re a long-term burden if they increase the debt and aren’t accompanied by economic and wage growth. Putting more money in people’s pockets also increases inflationary pressure, so there’s that, too. Not arguing that we shouldn’t put more money in people’s pockets, but just as I would argue with any minimum wage hike, there are other factors to consider in the broader economy - like many more. Trump’s tax cuts might be a short-term boost, but his monetary policy is almost certainly going to make borrowing more expensive. It’ll be interesting to see how his tight money supply rhetoric stands up to reality when money flows through the economy more slowly and when investors start to take notice of that fact. > [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I was trying to compare 2017 to 2016, like i did in post #39, because I think that’s a reasonably-decent apples-to-apples comparison. It is, and then it isn’t. For one thing, 2017 wasn’t an election year. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/71 "2018-02-06T02:53:48Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > … It is, and then it isn’t. For one thing, 2017 wasn’t an election year. This piqued my interest. Is there some historical trend about election years affecting GDP or something? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/72 "2018-02-06T02:56:50Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m about 99.9998% sure that this entire point-counterpoint on who is responsible for the economy has nothing to do with the question in the OP. You’re quite right. > [@Ravenman](#): > > … My best guess is that there are a decent number of Trump voters who gradually turned against him over the course of the disasterous year, who then saw the tax cut enacted and thought to themselves, “Oh, that’s why I voted for the guy!” … That would seem to put the limit of this rise at 46%. Do you think that’s a likely ceiling for Trump’s approval rating? ---
**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:** [February 6, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/73 "2018-02-06T03:03:08Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Seems more likely that there would be a euphoric bump once the bill was passed, and then maybe a year later when people start doing their taxes, maybe some will like what they see (or maybe not). My company announced a few weeks ago that we would be seeing small increases in our paychecks due to tax reform. I bet other companies made similar announcements. I would think the impact of FICA being taken out of Jan paycheck vs. December would dwarf tax reform impact, but I guess some people pay closer attention to their paychecks than I do. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/74 "2018-02-06T03:39:36Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This piqued my interest. Is there some historical trend about election years affecting GDP or something? I don’t have any research handy - the fundamentals of the economy certainly wouldn’t have changed that much one way or the other, I’d agree. But in terms of investor sentiment, there might be some difference in terms of understanding what policies might look like after the election results are in. 2017 seemed like the continuation of an economic run that started in early 2009. I certainly don’t give Obama all the credit, but I give him credit for using policy to help establish confidence in labor and investment markets, and for unfreezing credit markets. His policies boosted housing recoveries in many places. Much of it was the market correcting itself – having been damn fortunate markets didn’t collapse completely in the last quarter of '08, I’d add. Trump was the beneficiary of that trend. The Trump era has gotten off to a particularly auspicious start in part because of the markets adding wage growth and consumer confidence. We shall see how long this lasts. ---
**Author:** ![proudfootz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@proudfootz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/proudfootz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/75 "2018-02-06T14:29:05Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [Trump has seen a significant improvement in his polling since mid-December](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html), and [the generic ballot question has shown considerable improvement for Republicans](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/2018_generic_congressional_vote-6185.html) over the same time period. Why? > > I certainly don’t want to oversell it: an approval rating of 42% and a D+6.6% generic Congressional vote is still terrible, but definitely less terrible than it was about eight weeks ago. What is driving this? The tax cut? The Dems aborted shutdown? The good economic news? SOTU? Something else? I rather get the feeling it has to do with the fact that ‘outrage fatigue’ has set in. The country hasn’t descended into chaos as predicted and people are starting to move on. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/76 "2018-02-06T14:58:24Z")
> [@proudfootz](#): > > I rather get the feeling it has to do with the fact that ‘outrage fatigue’ has set in. > > The country hasn’t descended into chaos as predicted and people are starting to move on. Earlier I asked if Ravenman thought a ceiling of 46% was a reasonable expectation under his “Trump voters returning to the fold” theory. This “outrage fatigue” theory sounds even better for Trump though. Is there any reason not to think that even more voters will approve of the job he’s doing in the future as the predictions of doom and gloom fail to materialize? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/77 "2018-02-06T15:06:28Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I don’t have any research handy - the fundamentals of the economy certainly wouldn’t have changed that much one way or the other, I’d agree. But in terms of investor sentiment, there might be some difference in terms of understanding what policies might look like after the election results are in. 2017 seemed like the continuation of an economic run that started in early 2009. I certainly don’t give Obama all the credit, but I give him credit for using policy to help establish confidence in labor and investment markets, and for unfreezing credit markets. His policies boosted housing recoveries in many places. Much of it was the market correcting itself – having been damn fortunate markets didn’t collapse completely in the last quarter of '08, I’d add. Trump was the beneficiary of that trend. The Trump era has gotten off to a particularly auspicious start in part because of the markets adding wage growth and consumer confidence. We shall see how long this lasts. My only quibble would be that you didn’t really mean “early 2009”, did you? 2009 was an awful year for the economy. There were [net job losses every month except November](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth) (and sporadically throughout 2010 too). For the year, GDP was down 2.8% (although that was significant decline early on offset by modest improvement in the latter half of the year). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/78 "2018-02-06T15:08:56Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > That would seem to put the limit of this rise at 46%. Do you think that’s a likely ceiling for Trump’s approval rating? It’s hard to say that there’s a hard ceiling, because you never know what might happen that could cause people to rally around him. Like, if he resigned, I bet a lot more people would approve of him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![proudfootz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@proudfootz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/proudfootz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/79 "2018-02-06T15:20:12Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Earlier I asked if Ravenman thought a ceiling of 46% was a reasonable expectation under his “Trump voters returning to the fold” theory. This “outrage fatigue” theory sounds even better for Trump though. Is there any reason not to think that even more voters will approve of the job he’s doing in the future as the predictions of doom and gloom fail to materialize? People will probably (in my experience) rate the President based on their own personal situation - if they are doing well, then they will be inclined to believe the country is doing well. The problem with making overblown or exaggerated predictions is that when they don’t pan out or have to be walked back those who make the predictions will tend to lose credibility. Then if we ever _do_ need to get the word out about something serious it will be met with skepticism. > [@](#): > > According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media. > > That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats. Eighty-four percent of voters said it is hard to know what news to believe online. > > “Much of the media is now just another part of the partisan divide in the country with Republicans not trusting the ‘mainstream’ media and Democrats seeing them as reflecting their beliefs,” said Harvard-Harris co-director Mark Penn. “Every major institution from the presidency to the courts is now seen as operating in a partisan fashion in one direction or the other.” > > [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/334897-poll-majority-says-mainstream-media-publishes-fake-news](http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/334897-poll-majority-says-mainstream-media-publishes-fake-news) In my opinion they aren’t wrong - having paid attention over the past four decades and read some history there’s no doubt in my mind there is a great deal of partisanship in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255/80 "2018-02-06T15:53:19Z")
I think the GOP has done a good job selling their cocaine-and-whiskey patent medicine as a cure-all. I think Trump has managed to avoid any extra-profound idiocies for a month. I think he’s unlikely to see much more raise, but who the hell knows. My big worry is that Trump is planning to attack North Korea around the time that Mueller gets close to him, and it’s either going to cause his approval to skyrocket or to plummet, and either one is gonna cause a crisis the likes of which I’ve not seen in my lifetime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trump-and-the-republicans-polling-better-now/808255.md?page=5)