There a lot of nonsense out there.   Here’s the honest truth – Trump’s approval ratings have hardly changed since about six months after he became president.   His approval rating based on Gallup polling is 40% for the last week in December.   The wall, the shutdown, Secretary Mattis resignation,  the sudden pull out from Syria, more Mueller news and a dozen other stories did not make a dent in Trump’s approval rating.  The fluctuations are small and just polling errors as would be expected.

In another words – there is no trend.  It has  been flat for the last 18 months.  The American people have spoken with a yawn.

You will hear from commentators how the country is deeply divided.  This is true.  Republicans will tell you that Trump is doing his level best to deliver on his promises to the electorate, and he understands the country much better than the Democrats (aka,  liberal fanatics).   They listen to Fox News.   Democrats will tell you that Trump is out of control.  They listen to MSNBC.

Finally, there is a third group, which is completely turned off by government and politics.    Remember only 43% of eligible voters actually voted in the last election.  The overload of news programs mixed with commentaries doesn’t help much.   In light of constant “breaking news”  this group just turns to the latest offerings from Netflix.

Another site I like is “538”  which puts Trump’s approval rating at 41.2%.   They aggregate various polls to provide a weighted average.

This is in sharp contrast to other presidents who had much more fluctuations in their polling numbers.  It looks like what really gets the apathetic group to turn off Netflix and other distractions is a major war – like the Korean war or Vietnam.  George H.W. Bush had one of the highest ratings when he defended Kuwait against the Iraqi invasions.   Truman has a record low rating (22%) when the Korean war dragged on.

For Trump,  polls consistently show very high approval ratings from Republicans and low ones from Democrats.  So, are Americans outraged by Trump’s shutdown the government or  the Democrats refusal to provide funds for the wall.   Likely it’s both plus a lot of who cares.  I am much more concerned with the “who cares” group, as democracies need an informed populace.

Stay tuned,

Dave