Rising Tweets Cause Sinking Polls
It’s all in the numbers. For President Trump, the numbers are dreadful. It’s difficult finding any poll in which he’s more popular than he is unpopular.
The most recent CNN/SSRS poll is an example of just how unpopular he is – and on a variety of fronts.
Only 36 percent of the people polled approve of the job he’s doing.
Worse, that’s a 6 percent drop from last month.
Americans also disapprove of the job he’s doing in: immigration, foreign affairs and honesty and trustworthiness.
Is Trump, “Someone you are proud to have as a president?” Well, 64 percent of those people polled say no.
Does he “care about people like you?” Nope, say 62 percent.
“Who has the most support for their handling of the Russia investigation?” Special Counsel Robert Mueller – 50 percent, Donald Trump only percent.
And in each of those categories, the gaps between approval and disapproval are widening.
That CNN/SSRS poll is just one of many polls that have Trump leaking support.
The most recent (conservative leaning) Rasmussen Reports poll has him at minus 6 percent (46 percent approval, to 52 percent disapproval).
That should be a bit troubling to Trump, who likes to boast about his poll numbers if there’s the tiniest uptick in his job approval.
Consider the fact that just two days after his inauguration, Rasmussen gave him a 57 percent job approval. Since then he’s slipped 46 percent.
There have been hundreds of polls that have been taken since he’s been in office.
You’d have to go all the way back to early April to find a single poll that has him more popular than unpopular.
Yet, you must wonder, why does he go out of his way to say and do such unpopular things?
Maybe he’s just a glutton for punishment.
And he can’t seem to get out of the shadow of the prosecutions and indictments of his former associates (Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, Mike Flynn and Rick Gates).
Thus, more Americans are beginning to see through Trump’s deceptions.
Add to that the specter of Bob Woodward’s searing new book (“Fear: Trump in the White House”) about the incompetence of the Trump administration, and that insider’s, anonymous op-ed published in the New York Times, and you’d think Trump would lay low, and just govern.
He’s not.
Instead, while a massive hurricane was hurling its way toward the eastern seaboard, Trump thought it would be a good time to throw the spotlight onto himself.
A recent George Washington University study revealed that an estimated 2,975 people died as the result of Hurricane Maria which devastated Puerto Rico last year.
Regardless, Trump remarked that the administration’s response to Hurricane Maria was an “incredible unsung success.”
Not so fast.
Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossell贸 was quick to dispute that claim.
“This was the worst natural disaster in our modern history. Our basic infrastructure was devastated, thousands of our people lost their lives and many others struggle,” Rossell贸 said.
Here comes another poll that Trump didn’t like.
According to a Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 80 percent of the Puerto Ricans asked rated Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria poor, or fair. Only 15 percent gave him a positive rating.
Quitting while he’s behind isn’t one of Trump’s strongest attributes.
Last Thursday, he fired off a particularly nasty tweet.
“3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much,” he wrote.
And worse, “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible…” he added.
The Democrats didn’t have to do a single thing to make him “look as bad as possible.”
He did that all by himself.
He continues to do it.
There will be more polls.
But the ones that’ll mean the most will be on Nov. 6th.
There are Republicans across the country who’re bracing themselves for a Trump-generated political bloodbath.
Just keep tweeting Mr. Trump.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.