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Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 25

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Stacyhs said:
No, it's the 53% approval rating I'm saying is an outlier poll and which he does not identify, not the "better off" poll.
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You highlighted the wrong part.

The latest USC Dornsife election poll does show a 53% approval rating...for Biden.

Trump has about a 53% disapproval rating. Even Rasmussen has him at only 46% approval.

ETA: I'm concerned Trump may be confused and does know the difference between the approval and disapproval numbers. His ability for comprehension seems to be deteriorating.
 
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DevilsAdvocate said:
You highlighted the wrong part.

The latest USC Dornsife election poll does show a 53% approval rating...for Biden.

Trump has about a 53% disapproval rating. Even Rasmussen has him at only 46% approval.

ETA: I'm concerned Trump may be confused and does know the difference between the approval and disapproval numbers. His ability for comprehension seems to be deteriorating.
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No, the part I highlighted was what I was addressing in the first part of my response. If 56% of people feel they are better off now than they were 4 years ago, meaning better off under his presidency, then his overall approval rating should be better than a mere 43.6%.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
 
People might be feeling better off for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with Trump and/or the state of the economy. Maybe they got a promotion, or finally paid off their student loan.
 
Pixel42 said:
People might be feeling better off for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with Trump and/or the state of the economy. Maybe they got a promotion, or finally paid off their student loan.
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People generally feel 'better off' because of their financial situation which would include a promotion or paying off a student loan. As the saying goes, "It's the economy, stupid."
 
DevilsAdvocate said:
I'm perplexed. He is correct. A Gallup Poll shows 56% of people say they and their family are better off than they were four years ago.

That is compared to 2012 (45%) and 2004 (47%) and 1992 (38%).

Who are all these people? We have an out of control pandemic, unemployment, businesses closing, disrespect in the world, wild fires, riots in the streets, shortages on consumer goods, fear of getting a hair cut, isolation, disruption on personal lives, two hundred thousand dead, huge national debt, constant lies and deceit in government, there was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts!

How can 56% say they are doing better than four years ago? I must be doing something wrong.
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If a pollster would ask me this specific question today, I wouldn't know how to answer it, frankly.

Obviously, we feel miserable with all the COVID-19 restrictions that have now been in place for 7 months, with no end in sight. And of course we know people who have been ill or died from COVID-19, which makes us sad.

But financially? Well, we are better off now than four years ago.
As we both can work from home, our income has not suffered. As there is less we can spend on, our savings have actually increased since march. As the stock market has been volatile but not really falling, our investments are doing great on balance.

I'm not sure if it is the same in the US as here in Belgium, but a large group of middle tier and high tier employees are mostly doing fine (financially). There are of course many people who suffered financially or have been made redundant, but it wouldn't surprise me if in Belgium at least 56% are economically better off than four years ago. Mentally, of course not.
 
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I know what you mean, Firestone. It's a mixed bag in our family, too. None of us had any family or friends who have contracted Covid. My husband is working from home which he actually prefers even though he had to take a 10% pay cut. My daughter sometimes works from home and sometimes goes into the office (she works in a computer lab so has to go in more often than not). Our portfolio has done well, too. But the stress of being stuck at home for so long and of having Trump acting like a lunatic and the fear of him being re-elected has really done a number on my nerves.
 
Firestone said:
I'm not sure if it is the same in the US as here in Belgium, but a large group of middle tier and high tier employees are mostly doing fine (financially). There are of course many people who suffered financially or have been made redundant, but it wouldn't surprise me if in Belgium at least 56% are economically better off than four years ago. Mentally, of course not.
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It's made no difference to me. Client visits aside, I've been mostly working from home for a decade. One of our neighbours is a senior health and safety engineer for a major engineering firm. He used to have a 1 hour each way commute to his office in the centre of Bristol. Now he works from home almost all the time. For him this is a major life upgrade.

It helps that he really loves his wife and children and so revels in the extra time he gets to spend with them and working from home helps his health in terms of getting out to exercise, managing his diet and knocking smoking on the head.
 
DevilsAdvocate said:
I'm perplexed. He is correct. A Gallup Poll shows 56% of people say they and their family are better off than they were four years ago.

That is compared to 2012 (45%) and 2004 (47%) and 1992 (38%).

Who are all these people? We have an out of control pandemic, unemployment, businesses closing, disrespect in the world, wild fires, riots in the streets, shortages on consumer goods, fear of getting a hair cut, isolation, disruption on personal lives, two hundred thousand dead, huge national debt, constant lies and deceit in government, there was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts!

How can 56% say they are doing better than four years ago? I must be doing something wrong.
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You've probably seen it already, but The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper did one of his vox pops with a Trump supporter recently, who was over the moon at how his income had quadrupled under Trump. His profession?

Debt relief.


Even Klepper couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of it.

 
Stacyhs said:
I know what you mean, Firestone. It's a mixed bag in our family, too. None of us had any family or friends who have contracted Covid. My husband is working from home which he actually prefers even though he had to take a 10% pay cut. My daughter sometimes works from home and sometimes goes into the office (she works in a computer lab so has to go in more often than not). Our portfolio has done well, too. But the stress of being stuck at home for so long and of having Trump acting like a lunatic and the fear of him being re-elected has really done a number on my nerves.
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On my nerves too, even though I'm not a US citizen.
I'm not yet sure if I'll dare stay awake on election night and watch CNN as the results come in. I'm a big fan of election shows, but in 2016 I chickened out, as I feared what actually happened. (:chicken emoji: )

The Don said:
It's made no difference to me. Client visits aside, I've been mostly working from home for a decade. One of our neighbours is a senior health and safety engineer for a major engineering firm. He used to have a 1 hour each way commute to his office in the centre of Bristol. Now he works from home almost all the time. For him this is a major life upgrade.

It helps that he really loves his wife and children and so revels in the extra time he gets to spend with them and working from home helps his health in terms of getting out to exercise, managing his diet and knocking smoking on the head.
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Working from home is a major life upgrade for us too, for the reasons you mention (minus the commute, which is/was a 15 minute walk for me). I hope WFH will remain a thing after COVID-19 is behind us.

But we digress, so back to the topic

What this discussion shows, is that the famous "it's the economy, stupid" isn't necessarily true. Trump is such a disaster, that even a "good" economy probably won't save him.
That's why, IMO, the 56% who are better off doesn't translate in similar approval numbers.
 
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Pixel42 said:
People might be feeling better off for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with Trump and/or the state of the economy. Maybe they got a promotion, or finally paid off their student loan.
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It should also be noted that in some cases, the factors that make people better off personally may only be temporary.

For example, the trump tax cuts and deregulation may have (temporarily) boosted the stock market (which may make people think "I am doing better"), but eventually the resulting federal debt will need to be dealt with (meaning people will be worse off in the future).

And Trump's environmental policies (global warming denials, more oil drilling) give people lower gas and electricity prices now, but people will be worse off in the future dealing with the environmental impact.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk
 
KDLarsen said:
You've probably seen it already, but The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper did one of his vox pops with a Trump supporter recently, who was over the moon at how his income had quadrupled under Trump. His profession?

Debt relief.


Even Klepper couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of it.

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I had to laugh at the guy who was so stupid he completely missed the "sheep" bit. But the guy who admitted his father had underlying health conditions but still wouldn't wear a mask, I just wanted to slap.
 
Firestone said:
If a pollster would ask me this specific question today, I wouldn't know how to answer it, frankly.

Obviously, we feel miserable with all the COVID-19 restrictions that have now been in place for 7 months, with no end in sight. And of course we know people who have been ill or died from COVID-19, which makes us sad.

But financially? Well, we are better off now than four years ago.
As we both can work from home, our income has not suffered. As there is less we can spend on, our savings have actually increased since march. As the stock market has been volatile but not really falling, our investments are doing great on balance.
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That's false. How do I know that? Because I have been on the road every day since COVID started for what is regarded as essential work. I have claimed no benefits of any stripe and just kept on working through all of it. Because of that I know that lots of people are hurting financially. I am too, just not enough to require state aid.

Since I am on the road every day, I see how people are actually behaving. This pandemic will inevitably get worse due to that behaviour.
 
Trump rally this evening may happen. Airport touch down, talk, then fly out.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...0201011-ga3wbokwofh35dxcg3kpqe3x3i-story.html

By buying a ticket you sign a disclaimer
The Sanford event is set for 7 p.m., with access to the airport opening at 4 p.m. The Trump campaign and the White House have not indicated if any additional safety measures will be taken to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus among those traveling on Air Force One or those attending the Sanford rally.

Trump’s campaign website, which is asking people to register for tickets to the rally, continues to include this warning: “In attending the event, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19, and waive, release, and discharge Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; the host venue; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers from any and all liability under any theory, whether in negligence or otherwise, for any illness or injury.”
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Pixel42 said:
People might be feeling better off for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with Trump and/or the state of the economy. Maybe they got a promotion, or finally paid off their student loan.
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Plus unemployment benefits have been increased.
 
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