President Trump’s August: The Manic, Panicked President
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | August 16, 2018
“President Trump likes to talk about his base, but the reality is that the President’s base is a distinct minority of Americans.”
President Trump has been acting in recent days as a manic, panicked president.
Trump revokes John Brennan’s security clearance in an unprecedented action to punish him, and then says he revoked the clearance because of Brennan’s involvement in the Russia investigation. Trump attacks his former White House aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, with language that is widely interpreted as racist. Trump ups the ante in his attacks on the Mueller investigation as the investigation seems to be closing in on him and his close associates.
A look at Trump’s recent polling numbers may provide part of the explanation for why the President seems to be bouncing off the walls of the White House.
A new Gallup poll found Trump’s job rating at 39% approve, 56% disapprove — his lowest Gallup approval rating since April.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that 59% of American voters dislike President Trump as a person, while only 31% like him.
That same poll also found that Americans overwhelming reject Trump’s attacks on the media, with 65% of voters saying the news media is an important part of democracy, while 26% buy the Trump line that the media is the enemy of the people.
A new CNN poll finds that 58% of Americans support the Mueller Russia investigation as a serious matter that should be fully investigated, while 37% see it as an effort to discredit Trump. Thus, despite the relentless attacks on the Mueller investigation by President Trump, a significant majority of Americans support the investigation.
Moreover, the CNN poll found that 70% of Americans believe President Trump, if asked, should testify for Mueller’s investigation.
President Trump likes to talk about his base, but the reality is that the President’s base is a distinct minority of Americans.
Eventually this is going to catch up with our aberrational President.
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections.
