Weekly political update – Where news & perceptions meet reality
Bottom Line: This is your weekly reality check. What's really going on with public opinion of the president and our view of the direction of the country? Here it is...
- Trump's lowest rating: 37% approval (8/4/17)
- Trump highest approval rating: 45% approval (6/7/19)
- Trump's current rating: 44% approval
President Trump’s average polling is of a point this week though he remains just a point off his highest average approval rating of his administration. It’s been an almost oddly quiet week with Congress returning this week. Yes, we have the drum beat of impeachment nonsense starting up a bit this week but no one who’s to be taken seriously thinks it’s anything other than political posturing. That included Democrats in leadership if they’d be honest with you. President Trump did sack John Bolton but that’s not at all surprising to me. It was surprising to me when Trump picked him in the first place. Bolton’s far more of a hawk than President Trump is and it never seemed like a good fit. It does appear that President Trump is evaluating and willing to engage with additional gun control related policy – likely on background checks for any legal transfer of a firearm. We’ll see where that goes but otherwise – quiet. That is if you’re not Andrew McCabe. That’s the big news here.
The former acting director of the FBI is about to be indicted for lying during his role in during the 2016 election cycle conspiracy. As I’ve pointed out from the day William Barr agreed to return to the role of Attorney General, he was coming to bring accountability and credibility back to the clearly corrupted State Department, Justice Department and FBI. McCabe appears to be the first shoe that’ll drop. He won’t be the last. In a separate story today, I’ll highlight the other deep state actors that have a reason to be nervous.
As for the real world we had another great job’s report showing near record low unemployment, record high wages and unprecedented opportunities in the workforce right now. Many people get it, it just doesn’t usually make the news...
It’s been the case throughout his term thus far, that the more informed and engaged someone is politically, the more likely they are to approve of President Trump. That remains the case once again this week.
- Adult only samples averaged: N/A
- Registered voters: 43%
- Likely voters: 48%
What you never hear reported are the ratings of the Democratic leaders opposing him. Let’s just say they’d need a huge push of support to simply catch President Trump’s approval ratings. Here’s the latest...
- Pelosi: 34%
- Schumer: 27%
Who doesn’t want more of them in their lives, right? Geez, even about half of Democrats don’t approve of those two.
Looking at the direction of the country this week...
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
- Right Direction: 30%
Today:
- Right Direction: 37%
Overall, we’re 7% collectively more optimistic than we were during the Obama administration.
Photo by: Getty Images