Line graph and headline: The Economist, 1/19/2026
January 20th will mark a year since Donald Trump re-entered the Oval Office. Those 12 months have been unpredictable, to say the least. But there was one regularity in American politics: the downwards trend of the president’s approval rating. Mr Trump started his second term with a net approval rating of 2. By November it had fallen to -18. It is now slightly above that low, at -16. [emphasis added]
Then there's Linley take, as scribed here.
Call it a gift or a curse — for all his unpredictability, Trump's approval numbers just don't change very much.
This was largely the case during his first term in office, too. Early in his first term, 42% of Americans approved of how he was handling the presidency. There were some ups and downs over the ensuing years, but he left office with almost the same approval.
That level of consistency on presidential approval numbers could be the new normal for U.S. politics — or it could be unique to Trump.
In no way can a net approval rating of +2 in January 2025 and a net approval rating of -16 in January 2026 be considered a 'level of consistency'.
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment