4 ms·

Well, it's a democracy, they let the people vote, and the people voted in favor of leaving the EU. It's the same for me as a non-American looking at the whole

by LeonM 8y ago

Well, it's a democracy, they let the people vote, and the people voted in favor of leaving the EU. It's the same for me as a non-American looking at the whole Trump situation. The people chose him as their president, yet I get the impression (again, I'm an outsider) that very few people like him as a president.

hlnas 8y ago
That's what the mass media, which is skewed to the left, wants you to think. The truth is that his approval rating is doing okay, and it's especially good for republican voters.
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Trump's approval rating is really not doing OK. It's mediocre. Not Nixon or GWB-at-the-end-of-his-term bad, but an unbiased observer would not call being down 12 points "OK". https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
  - hlnas 8y ago
    Yes, but I think it's perfectly normal given how politics works now. Everything is becoming more polarised.
    - dragonwriter 8y ago
      > I think it's perfectly normal given how politics works now. Yes, Trump's approval rating is dead average for President’s taking office after the end of Obama’s second term at the same point in their term of office. But unless you reduce the domain so much that you compare Trump only to himself, it's not perfectly normal.
- the_gastropod 8y ago
  > and it's especially good for republican voters. This is true, but maybe not for the reasons you think. The number of people who self-identify as "Republican" has shrunk considerably over the past few years. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/14/trump-owns-a-shrinking-republican-party/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/14/trump-owns-...
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    Republican Party ID is up (at the expense of independents; Democratic ID is the same) from when Trump was elected. https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
    - the_gastropod 8y ago
      Huh! The Brooking's story actually cites this Gallup data. But it's a little out of date. Looks like Republican ID has sprung back up in the last ~6 months. Touché!
      - dragonwriter 8y ago
        It's really noisy poll-to-poll; really, I'd be skeptical of anyone claiming that there is much of a meaningful trend based on it. Pew’s series which separately tracks partisans and leaners might be more useful for spotting trends, but they do take seem to have really recent data public in that series.
maxxxxx 8y ago
"that very few people like him as a president." That's not really true if you talk to people. He is also being helped by the fact that the democrats have not much to offer either. I bet almost anybody except Clinton would have won the election.
vichu 8y ago
Albeit, it is slightly stranger in the Trump situation as the majority of voters didn't actually choose him as their president. Not to mention the fact that voter turnout is rather low in the US compared to most other democratic countries.
philk10 8y ago
he lost the popular vote but thanks to the Electoral College won the presidency
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Because, of course, he campaigned to the Electoral College (put advertising effort where the most Electoral College votes could be leveraged). Why the Democrats didn't do this is appalling.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Because, of course, he campaigned to the Electoral College Regardless of the validity of this argument as to Constitutional legitimacy, it's inapplicable to th claim made upthread which is that “the people chose him as their President”. They did not.
- paulddraper 8y ago
  The electoral college determines the presidency, so Trump and Hillary campaigned for the electoral college, and Trump won. If the popular vote won the presidency, Trump and Hillary would have campaigned for the popular vote, and there's no way of knowing what that outcome would have been.
paulddraper 8y ago
As am American, that's exactly what I thought when I read GP's comment. The losing side is always more emotional and vocal in politics. The winning side has nothing to prove, except during a re-election. It was that way for Bush, Obama, Trump, and it will be true of the next President.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dragonwriter 8y ago
> The people chose him as their president Well, he did get almost as many votes as the top vote getter, so that's almost true.

by LeonM 8y ago

hlnas 8y ago

That's what the mass media, which is skewed to the left, wants you to think. The truth is that his approval rating is doing okay, and it's especially good for republican voters.

pcwalton 8y ago
Trump's approval rating is really not doing OK. It's mediocre. Not Nixon or GWB-at-the-end-of-his-term bad, but an unbiased observer would not call being down 12 points "OK". https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
- hlnas 8y ago
  Yes, but I think it's perfectly normal given how politics works now. Everything is becoming more polarised.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > I think it's perfectly normal given how politics works now. Yes, Trump's approval rating is dead average for President’s taking office after the end of Obama’s second term at the same point in their term of office. But unless you reduce the domain so much that you compare Trump only to himself, it's not perfectly normal.
the_gastropod 8y ago
> and it's especially good for republican voters. This is true, but maybe not for the reasons you think. The number of people who self-identify as "Republican" has shrunk considerably over the past few years. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/14/trump-owns-a-shrinking-republican-party/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/14/trump-owns-...
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  Republican Party ID is up (at the expense of independents; Democratic ID is the same) from when Trump was elected. https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
  - the_gastropod 8y ago
    Huh! The Brooking's story actually cites this Gallup data. But it's a little out of date. Looks like Republican ID has sprung back up in the last ~6 months. Touché!
    - dragonwriter 8y ago
      It's really noisy poll-to-poll; really, I'd be skeptical of anyone claiming that there is much of a meaningful trend based on it. Pew’s series which separately tracks partisans and leaners might be more useful for spotting trends, but they do take seem to have really recent data public in that series.

maxxxxx 8y ago

"that very few people like him as a president." That's not really true if you talk to people. He is also being helped by the fact that the democrats have not much to offer either. I bet almost anybody except Clinton would have won the election.

vichu 8y ago

Albeit, it is slightly stranger in the Trump situation as the majority of voters didn't actually choose him as their president. Not to mention the fact that voter turnout is rather low in the US compared to most other democratic countries.

philk10 8y ago

he lost the popular vote but thanks to the Electoral College won the presidency

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Because, of course, he campaigned to the Electoral College (put advertising effort where the most Electoral College votes could be leveraged). Why the Democrats didn't do this is appalling.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Because, of course, he campaigned to the Electoral College Regardless of the validity of this argument as to Constitutional legitimacy, it's inapplicable to th claim made upthread which is that “the people chose him as their President”. They did not.
paulddraper 8y ago
The electoral college determines the presidency, so Trump and Hillary campaigned for the electoral college, and Trump won. If the popular vote won the presidency, Trump and Hillary would have campaigned for the popular vote, and there's no way of knowing what that outcome would have been.

paulddraper 8y ago

As am American, that's exactly what I thought when I read GP's comment. The losing side is always more emotional and vocal in politics. The winning side has nothing to prove, except during a re-election. It was that way for Bush, Obama, Trump, and it will be true of the next President.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

dragonwriter 8y ago

> The people chose him as their president Well, he did get almost as many votes as the top vote getter, so that's almost true.