Trumps unpopularity threatens to hobble his presidency

[portlander23]

Trump’s unpopularity threatens to hobble his presidency
Steven Shepard
Politico

President-elect Donald Trump will descend on Washington next month, buoyed by his upset victory and Republican control of Congress to implement his agenda.

But he’s facing a major obstacle: Trump will enter the White House as the least-popular incoming president in the modern era of public-opinion polling.

While Trump has received a boost in public opinion after his victory, he still badly lags past presidents-elect when it comes to personal favorability. Currently, his average favorable rating stands at 43 percent, according to HuffPost Pollster, while a 49-percent plurality views him unfavorably. More respondents viewed Trump unfavorably than favorably in the most recent batch of public polls from NBC News/Wall Street Journal, Suffolk University/USA Today, Fox News,CBS News and POLITICO/Morning Consult, all conducted in early- or mid-December.

“The lack of support for the president-elect means that Democrats can oppose him when they believe they should,” said Jesse Ferguson, the former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee independent-expenditure head who worked as a spokesman for Clinton’s campaign this year. “They can be confident that there’s no pressure for them to support him out of fear of his political prowess and political power, because his coattails look a little more like a T-SHIRT.”

Is it too early to call bullshit on this theory? Trump is going to enter office with every branch of the government (SCOTUS shortly) under Republican control. The idea that a lack of a mandate or popular support will dissuade Republicans seems fantastical. The only way the Trump agenda will be slowed, legislatively, is if there's divisions in the GOP ranks for Democrats to exploit. As of today, it doesn't look like the GOP is unhappy with a Trump victory.

[cilla4progress]

1. I think this

Dare I say

Our trump card?

I can't stomach watching trump's tools spew, but how or what lies can they put forth about this undeniable truth?

It is patently true; it gets under trump's skin; it needs to be shouted to the rooftops repeatedly.

[geek tragedy]

2. Democrats can oppose him, with little consequence though.

Republicans can't oppose him, because he owns their base now.

Republicans are banking on his lack of interest in actual legislation.

[Bucky]

3. Trump's tendency to create personal feuds with people will keep GOP divided

by conventional standards, yes he's going to be a weak president. But the Republicans are fairly desperate to run a functioning government. Their cultural Instinct as conservatives is to line up and follow the leader.

If Trump was a Democrat he'd be in real trouble, but I would give him a better than even chance of getting his way most the time for the first two years. You know, until the scandals start to snowball

[RBInMaine]

4. Dems need to be STRONG, VERY TOUGH, and SMASH HIM on his rotten agenda & BROKEN PROMISES!!

Hammer him RELENTLESSLY on all the BULLSHIT BROKEN PROMISES NIGHT AND DAY!! Do it NOW with how he has not "drained the swamp" but rather filled it with swamp monsters and the CORPORATE ESTABLISHMENT.

[socialist_n_TN]

11. Yeah they do. I have my doubts that they WILL do this though........

The Democrats historically and by temperament are NOT an "opposition" party, they are a "compromise" party. So I expect the Republicans to propose draconian legislation and the Dems to soften the edges of the legislation and then vote for it. That's what they've (historically) done.

[dhill926]

15. agree 100 percent....

[gulliver]

16. Yes, and not just Trump

The Republican Party brought us Trump. Every single Republican politician needs to pay the price for Trump in 2018.

[Wounded Bear]

5. I certainly hope so....

On a more serious note, how in the hell can he have a 43% approval rating?

[LisaM]

6. Darn.

Boo effing hoo.

[Freddie]

7. The planned Anti-Inauguration is a good start

Show him and his Office of the Presidency complete and utter disrespect from Day 1. Keep it up. If nothing else it will drive him around the bend.

[SHRED]

8. I think the establishment GOP looks at him as temporary

A useful idiot who has done his job by getting them power.

If he gets too crazy they will impeach him to the curb and install Pence.

[socialist_n_TN]

12. I agree.............

They think they can "control" him. Like the German bourgeoisie thought they could "control" Hitler. They will not hesitate to impeach and convict him if he gets too out of line, ESPECIALLY on protectionism.

[Nay]

20. Agreed. They don't care that he's a maniac or that he is unpopular with the

rabble. They don't listen to the rabble. They are gearing up to use him to strip this country of its assets, which Trump wants to do anyway. None of them gives a shit about the country itself -- it's just a basket of assets to be handed out.

[wryter2000]

22. I also agree

As soon as he becomes a liability to their plans, they'll dump him in favor of Pence. It's not as if they don't have many, many good reasons for impeachment.

[hatrack]

9. See "Carolina, North" for real-world applicability of this . . . theory

.

[wryter2000]

10. Trump will be in the same position as

Obama after Ted Kennedy's death. Majority in both houses but not filibuster proof in the Senate. The Republicans still managed to shut most everything down.

[socialist_n_TN]

13. He will be in the same position as Obama UNLESS.................

the Republicans change the filibuster rules to majority only rather than super-majority. That could happen too. For the most part Senate rules are what a majority of the Senate wants the rules to be.

[wryter2000]

21. True

McConnell has said he won't change the filibuster rule, but of course, we know how far he can be trusted.

[Bettie]

18. That assumes

that Dems will actually fight them on anything.

I'm pretty sure they'll just give token resistance and then do as they are told.

It makes me very unhappy, very discouraged.

[Calista241]

14. He can't work on his popularity really until he gets in the office

he's probably going to announce a NAFTA summit shortly after his inauguration day, and at that point, news orgs will stop talking about his conflicts and business troubles, and start talking about this major re-negotiation of North American Trade.

We need to be prepared for these types of high profile actions to happen on a regular basis to distract the media.

[Bettie]

17. The problem is that

he and his prospective appointees do not care.

The Republican congress does not care about popularity. They have the statehouses, they have the congress and they control who counts the vote.

They have an army of Russian hackers to ensure that there is never another fair election again.

And they have the most violent, hate-filled segment of society ready to do their bidding at a moment's notice.

Popular or unpopular, they will tell those who watch Faux that he is the MOST POPULAR GUY EVER and they will lap it up and be ready to do whatever their Dear Leader demands of them.

[hollowdweller]

19. Wonder what is up with Politico????

I always thought they seemed to lean to the right a touch but they are sure running a lot of well written articles critical of Trump lately.