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Forbes magazine recently reported that “President-elect Donald Trump's popularity is at its highest in seven years, with a majority of Americans supporting his handling of the transition process.” “A majority (54%) of respondents to a CNN/SSRS poll released Wednesday said they believe President Trump will do a good job when he returns to the White House next month (54%),” the article said. continued, “and support the transition response” so far (55%). ”
These numbers are in sharp contrast to eight years ago, when Donald Trump was the first “president-elect.” Pew Research Center conducted a national survey from November 30 to December. A May 5, 2016 survey found that of the 1,502 adults surveyed at the time, only 40% supported President Trump's cabinet selections and senior-level appointments; It was found that 41% supported the work done to date in explaining their plans for the future. . ”
While this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, approval ratings are significantly higher today than they were eight years ago. The big and important question is “why?”
The all-too-easy and obvious answer is that President-Elect Trump 2.0 is not President-elect Joe Biden, and President-elect 1.0 is not President Barack Obama.
President Obama left the White House with an employment approval rating slightly below the approval ratings of Presidents Reagan and President Clinton when they left office, again using Pew numbers. “58% agree [Obama’s] Meanwhile, 37% disapprove,” Pew told us eight years ago.
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Biden's approval rating in late November of this year (we turn to Gallup this time) was 37%, and some of that sample was taken before widespread criticism of Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter Biden. It is something. Could Biden fall further? absolutely.
In other words, “not Biden” (and Vice President Kamala Harris, for that matter) is helping former and future President Trump's numbers.
But that is inexplicable in my opinion. 55% may be the new “ceiling” for all new presidents' approval ratings in today's deeply divided country, but why is President Trump's number so much lower than 40% eight years ago to today? Has the approval rating skyrocketed?
Most small businesses expect revenue to soar in Trump's first year
There are two possible explanations other than “he's not Joe or Kamala.”
First, Trump's 2016 upset was shocking and even painful for Manhattan Beltway media and political elites. I know this firsthand because I was on the set of 30 Rock's “NBC Election Night Coverage” eight years ago. As events unfolded on that memorable night in 2016, it was more than just a surprise that hit the NBC studios. It was a thunderclap of reality that traditional news organizations were completely unaware of, leaving newsrooms stunned and in disbelief. (In fact, MSNBC was one floor lower than the NBC News election night set, so the newsroom had two floors). Much of the shock and pain experienced among the legacy media elite has become a kind of “relative pain” among the general public. The country was shocked by the big media shock in 2016, but as anger and distrust of the legacy media spread, large parts of the country were shaken to align with these elites.
How bad will this Trump presidency be? Media elites weren't seriously thinking about Trump's chances of winning, so what they said out loud and said and implied in their looks and body language that night was absorbed. Those with platforms, at least the majority of them in the traditional media, quickly concluded that a Trump presidency would be terrible for the country, and their collective gasp sent stock futures plummeting. Although the market quickly restored balance, the spirits of the Manhattan and Beltway media elites did not. The onset of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” was instantaneous. Until Trump won a landslide victory in November of this year, TDS only worsened.
At this time eight years ago, Trump never spent a night in Washington, D.C., and the shock of his 2016 victory was followed by a flurry of prophecies of doom from the usual suspects, the “Resistance.” had already taken its place in the media. The “pink hats” had booked plane tickets to President Trump's inauguration venue the day after the counter-protest. “Hillary was supposed to win, damn it,” and when she didn’t, the media elite and the political left told America that Trump was completely corrupt at best and probably an authoritarian. I went overboard trying to convince him. Eight years later, after endless research and years of legal battles, it has been determined that the majority of Americans are no longer buying what traditional media is selling.
But that's not all. President Trump's previous highest approval rating before a new “honeymoon season” in 2024 was 49%. And it wasn't until the beginning of 2020 that that number was reached. After three years of low taxes, deregulation and a surge in energy production, America started cooking with gas…until the coronavirus hit.
It is nothing short of surprising that President Trump's approval rating is currently 55%. In the past five years since it reached 49%, well, there have been a lot of events.
President-elect Donald Trump reacts during a meeting with Prince William at the British Embassy in Paris, France, on December 7, 2024. (Oleg Nikin/Getty Images)
Neither the events of January 6 nor the disastrous failure of President Biden in particular explain the “Trump jump.” Comparing the 45- and 47-year-olds to a sickly, failed president is certainly helpful to Trump, as is a decline in trust in traditional media and perhaps a return to norms of favoritism for the next president. . The media is not as hysterical as it was eight years ago.
In fact, Trump's new approval ratings are thanks to, wait for it, Trump.
The fact is that people are now anticipating the decline of an even more controlled left with forced regime change and a government at the helm of brash real estate developers and TV stars driven by superlatives and big goals. This means that we are comparing the different governments side by side. From EVs to male students participating in women's sports. America suffered greatly from the conflict between the “United States of Europe” and the “United States of America,” and it turns out that we prefer the latter. We want our president to be unapologetically patriotic, optimistic, and philanthropic.
Please don't misunderstand my meaning. While the traditional media elites of Manhattan and the Beltway are shocked by Trump's victory and are once again very angry, even furious, the public's willingness to share the associated pain of these elites is rapidly It is declining. The tweets of journalists who have lost the public's trust in an almost incomprehensible but very comprehensive way not only matter less, they actually helped Trump get off to a good start in his second term. There is.
Most Americans have simply ignored traditional media from discussions about Trump. Legacy media is no longer trusted. Does it hate Trump? so what? The collective influence of legacy media is now at rock bottom, below that of “public health authorities.”
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My suggestion: Trump is more popular today than ever because Americans love optimism, and Trump doesn't just sell hope, he believes in it. If you combine love for the country and its elected leaders who believe in its inherent goodness with the shattered credibility of Trump's critics and the disaster of the Biden era, you get 55% instead of 40%. It turns out.
The only question to answer is how high that number will rise when President Trump delivers on the border, rebuilds the defense, restores deregulation, and extends the Trump tax cuts. If we want our country to prosper, we should expect President Trump's numbers to continue to rise, just like the market numbers.
Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” broadcast weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. . Hugh Wakes America up on more than 400 affiliates nationwide and on all streaming platforms where SNC is available. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel's News Roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier, weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio State and a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, teaching constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show in 1990 from Los Angeles. Hewitt frequently appears on every major national news television network, hosts television programs on PBS and MSNBC, writes for every major American newspaper, has written 12 books, and hosts a Republican program. I served. Candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and the four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-2016 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and columns on the Constitution, national security, American politics, the Cleveland Browns and the Guardians. Over his 40 years on the air, Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republicans George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. This column previews the key stories that drive his radio/television show today.
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