G.O.P. Support for Trump Is

artappraiser — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 04:18:47 +0000

In reply to Trump’s approval: How low can he go?

G.O.P. Support for Trump Is Starting to Crack

Op-ed by David Leonhardt @ NYTimes.com, July 24

Again and again over the past year, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have had to decide what kind of behavior they are willing to tolerate from Donald Trump. Again and again, McConnell and Ryan have bowed down to Trump.

They have mumbled occasional words of protest, sometimes even harsh ones, like Ryan’s use of “racist” last year. Then they have gone back to supporting Trump.

The capitulation of McConnell and Ryan has created an impression — especially among many liberals — that congressional Republicans stand behind the president. McConnell and Ryan, after all, are the leaders of Congress, and they continue to push for the legislation Trump wants and to permit his kleptocratic governing.

But don’t be fooled: Republican support for the president has started to crack.

Below the leadership level, Republicans are defying Trump more often, and McConnell and Ryan aren’t always standing in their way [....]

The 17 states that still

artappraiser — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 01:46:27 +0000

In reply to Trump’s approval: How low can he go?

The 17 states that still approve of Trump

By Shannon Vavra @ Axios.com, July 24

WITH MAP ILLUSTRATION as per Gallup tracking

[....] Notably, the three states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania) that gave Trump the key 78,000-vote margin that set his path to victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election hold an unfavorable view (below 50% approval) of Trump.

Why it matters: As The Washington Post's Philip Bump writes, "If Trump were to win only states where he had at least 50 percent approval in the first six months of this year, he'd end up with 99 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency." And although not exact, reelection results tend to track with approval polls.

Also see: Yglesias @ Vox.com, July 24:

Despite his boastful tweets, Trump had negative coattails in 2016; Nobody really owes him anything.

[....] Though Trump’s surprise win in 2016 might make him seem like a kind of political savant, the reality is he was a drag on his party, a president who didn’t help anyone get over the finish line — offering nothing but anti-coattails.

Trump underperformed in 2016

The 2016 election left the national GOP in an extremely powerful position, but it was, paradoxically, a fairly underwhelming performance. Republicans lost two Senate seats and half a dozen House seats while their presidential candidate lost the popular vote by 2 million [....]

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G.O.P. Support for Trump Is

The 17 states that still