XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: rafaels@yahoo.com   
      
   Trump setting records for low presidential approval   
   Plunging into undesirably uncharted territory, Trump is setting records   
   with his dismally low approval ratings   
   At 34 percent, his current approval rating is worse than former President   
   Barack Obama's ever was   
      
      
      
   President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC.   
   Donald Trump started as the most unpopular new president in the history of   
   modern polling. After seven months, things have only gotten worse.   
      
   Plunging into undesirably uncharted territory, Trump is setting records   
   with his dismally low approval ratings, including the lowest mark ever for   
   a president in his first year. In fact, with four months left in the year,   
   Trump has already spent more time under 40 percent than any other first-   
   year president.   
      
   At 34 percent, his current approval rating is worse than former President   
   Barack Obama's ever was.   
      
   Trump's early descent in the polls defies some longstanding patterns about   
   how Americans view their president. Such plunges are often tied to   
   external forces that the president only partially controls, such as a   
   sluggish economy or an all-consuming international crisis. In Trump's   
   case, the economy is humming and the foreign crises have been kept to a   
   minimum.   
      
   Americans also tend to be optimistic about their new leaders, typically   
   cutting them some slack during their early days in office. Not with Trump.   
      
   "Most presidents begin with a honeymoon period and then go down from that,   
   and Trump had no honeymoon," said Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport.   
      
   It's a jarring juxtaposition for the reality TV star-turned-president who   
   spent months on the campaign trail obsessing about his poll numbers and   
   reading them to massive rally crowds while vowing that he'd win so much as   
   president that Americans would get sick of it. Since he took office, the   
   poll number recitations have stopped.   
      
   President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC.   
   Getty Images   
   President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC.   
   Donald Trump started as the most unpopular new president in the history of   
   modern polling. After seven months, things have only gotten worse.   
      
   Plunging into undesirably uncharted territory, Trump is setting records   
   with his dismally low approval ratings, including the lowest mark ever for   
   a president in his first year. In fact, with four months left in the year,   
   Trump has already spent more time under 40 percent than any other first-   
   year president.   
      
   At 34 percent, his current approval rating is worse than former President   
   Barack Obama's ever was.   
      
   Trump's early descent in the polls defies some longstanding patterns about   
   how Americans view their president. Such plunges are often tied to   
   external forces that the president only partially controls, such as a   
   sluggish economy or an all-consuming international crisis. In Trump's   
   case, the economy is humming and the foreign crises have been kept to a   
   minimum.   
      
   Americans also tend to be optimistic about their new leaders, typically   
   cutting them some slack during their early days in office. Not with Trump.   
      
   "Most presidents begin with a honeymoon period and then go down from that,   
   and Trump had no honeymoon," said Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport.   
      
   It's a jarring juxtaposition for the reality TV star-turned-president who   
   spent months on the campaign trail obsessing about his poll numbers and   
   reading them to massive rally crowds while vowing that he'd win so much as   
   president that Americans would get sick of it. Since he took office, the   
   poll number recitations have stopped.   
      
    President Trump to the people of Texas: 'Good luck'	President Trump to   
   the people of Texas: 'Good luck to everybody'   
   6:04 PM ET Fri, 25 Aug 2017 | 00:32   
   Trump is now viewed positively by only 37 percent of Americans, according   
   to Gallup's most recent weekly estimate. (Obama's lowest weekly average   
   never fell below 40 percent.) It's even lower — just 34 percent — in   
   Gallup's shorter, three-day average, which includes more recent interviews   
   but can also involve more random variation.   
      
   To be sure, approval ratings can fluctuate — sometimes dramatically. Some   
   presidents have seen their positive reviews dip below 40 percent, only to   
   recover strongly. Bill Clinton, whose rating fell to 37 percent in early   
   June 1993 after policy stumbles, quickly gained ground. Later that same   
   month, he climbed to 46 percent, and ended his eight years enjoying   
   approval from 66 percent of the nation.   
      
   Trump has defied the trends before. But if history is a guide, his numbers   
   don't bode well. Low approval ratings hamper a president's ability to push   
   an agenda through Congress and make it more likely the president's party   
   will lose seats in Congress in the midterm elections.   
      
   Scott de Marchi, who teaches political science at Duke University, says   
   his research suggests approval ratings tend to affect whether a president   
   can persuade Congress to do his or her bidding. That's primarily true with   
   complex issues like tax reform, where Americans care about the outcome but   
   may not have strongly formed opinions. In those cases, Americans are more   
   likely to support whatever plan the president proposes if they broadly   
   approve of the president himself.   
      
   "The problem with Trump is that on any area like the budget or tax policy   
   or even health care, people need to be led to a position to support," de   
   Marchi said.   
      
   Since Gallup began tracking presidential approval, four presidents — Harry   
   Truman, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush — spent significant   
   time below 40 percent during their first four years. Clinton's and Ronald   
   Reagan's forays below the 40 percent mark also came during their first   
   terms. But neither stayed there long.   
      
   Of those who spent at least a few months below 40 percent approval in a   
   first term, only one — Truman — recovered enough to win re-election.   
      
   Still, several others reached lows at some point in their presidency that   
   are worse than Trump's, including several who dropped below 30 percent.   
      
   Truman hit 22 percent in February 1952, during a drawn-out Korean War   
   stalemate and accusations of corruption in his administration. Richard   
   Nixon hit 24 percent at the height of the Watergate scandal just before   
   his resignation in 1974. Carter bottomed out at 28 percent in the summer   
   of 1979, amid that year's oil crisis.   
      
      
   Trump's average approval rating so far: Just 40 percent. That's even lower   
   than the previous average low for a first-term president, 46 percent, set   
   by Carter.   
      
   Newport, the Gallup chief, said Trump's struggles are unusual in that such   
   abysmal numbers can usually be tied to a single, specific issue bedeviling   
   the country. With Trump, Newport said, "it's a more general kind of issue   
   with the man himself and a more general dissatisfaction with the way   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)