Mr. Unpopular: ‘the polls are rigged!’

Donald Trump lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes. “Mr. Unpopular,” Donald Trump, will enter office as the most unpopular of at least the last seven newly elected presidents, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. Trump to Enter Office as Most Unpopular President in at Least 40 Years, Poll Finds:

TrumpCrybabyForty percent of Americans in the national survey approve of the way Trump has handled the transition, only half as many as the 80 percent who approved of Barack Obama’s preparations to take office. Trump also trails far behind George W. Bush (72 percent transition approval), Bill Clinton (81 percent) and George H.W. Bush (82 percent) on this measure.

Similarly, just 40 percent in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, approve of most of Trump’s Cabinet choices, trailing his four most recent predecessors by 19 to 26 percentage points.

Also, only 40 percent see Trump favorably overall. That’s 21 points behind Obama’s departing favorability rating (his best since November 2009) and by far the lowest popularity for an incoming president in polling since 1977. Previous start-of-presidency favorability ratings have ranged from 56 percent for George W. Bush to 79 percent for Obama.

These results are consistent with a new CNN poll, which found Trump with a 40% approval rating, “the lowest of any recent president.” CNN/ORC Poll: Confidence drops in Trump transition:

Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president.

Following a tumultuous transition period, approval ratings for Trump’s handling of the transition are more than 20 points below those for any of his three most recent predecessors. Obama took the oath in 2009 with an 84% approval rating, 67% approved of Clinton’s transition as of late December 1992 and 61% approved of George W. Bush’s transition just before he took office in January 2001.

An earlier Gallup poll produced similar results. Approval of Trump Transition Still Low as Inauguration Nears:

In Gallup polling conducted two weeks before Inauguration Day, President-elect Donald Trump continues to garner historically low approval for his transition performance, with 51% of Americans disapproving of how he is handling the presidential transition and 44% approving.

Trump’s 48% transition approval rating in December was already the lowest for any presidential transition Gallup has measured, starting with Bill Clinton’s in 1992-1993. Trump’s current rating only further separates him from his predecessors — particularly Barack Obama, who earned 83% approval for his handling of the transition process in January 2009, up from 75% in mid-December 2008.

An earlier Quinnipiac University National Poll also found voters disapprove 51 – 37 percent of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president-elect.

There is no modern precedent for poll numbers like this.

So naturally the always insecure egomaniacal Twitter troll Trump claims “the polls are rigged!” “Fake news!”

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18 thoughts on “Mr. Unpopular: ‘the polls are rigged!’”

  1. In any other country on earth a 2.9 million vote advantage would be a mandate, even in autocratic Russia. Here we are left with a archaic slave era compromise, that should have been flushed with the 3/5s person nonsense. Instead we have a misogynistic, racist, maniac, with the attention span of a peanut, and no capability of learned thought, other than his own ego, going into office. It’s no wonder millions of people discredit him. The only question will be literally how many people on earth and in this country will pay with their lives for this insanity. George W. Bush will look like a genius in comparison.

    • True, but all the candidates knew that the Electoral College system, with 48 states + DC allocating their electoral votes WTA by statewide vote, was how the next president was going to be elected. Whether you agree with that or disagree with that in principle doesn’t change that fact.

      At least partially, that has to rest with the HRC campaign team and the DNC, who ignored pleas on the ground that Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and Michigan were potentially in play, in order to play for a blowout by putting limited resources into states such as Arizona, Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina. Though 95% of what Trump says is somewhere between horrifying and nonsensical, his campaign strategy and messaging were on point, as evidenced by the fact that he won in the system all candidates knew was going to be the system to elect the President.

      And given that, despite facing the most unpopular president dating back at least to FDR, the Democrats largely failed to reverse their trend of losing not just Congress, but also state legislatures and governors over the past 8 years, perhaps the electoral rebuke should be taken as an omen to either shape up or risk going the way of the Whigs.

      • “…perhaps the electoral [college] rebuke should be taken as an omen to either shape up or risk going the way of the Whigs.”

        I am pretty confident that the democrats will figure it out and come back with a good strategy next time. Despite the disdain I hold for democrats, in general, I have never thought of them as being stupid. Thier ranks contain a lot of smart people (like you, and Liza, and AzBM, and a lot of the people who post here) who may still be in mild shock after Hillary’s loss, but in a shortwhile they will start focusing on what needs to be done and then things will happen.

    • “…we have a misogynistic, racist, maniac, with the attention span of a peanut, and no capability of learned thought, other than his own ego, going into office.”

      Whew! Did you get out your thesaurus to find all those adjectives? ;o)

      Frances, I am certain it was very satisfying to set pen to paper, so to speak, on Trump that way, I would offer caution on on a trio of points. First, Trump has a good attention span. He showed that throughout the campaign and continues to show it during the ramp-up to his inauguration. Second, he is a quick learner. When in school, he was always at the top of his class in everything. He is noted for picking things up quickly and becoming quite authoritative on subjects he needs to learn to further his ambitions. And third, he is extremely sly and capable when negotiating with others. It is a hallmark of his personality and business style. He usually gets what he wants.

      You may be correct on everything else (I have my doubts) but his having a big ego is not unique to him. ALL presidents have had big egos…even Obama agreed on that. And Obama agreed that a person who didn’t have a big ego couldn’t do the job.

      • The Donald got the best education a rich donor father could provide, considering no class members remember one single overt thing he was involved in. He’ s smart because he says he is. Very little evidence on the campaign trail. Maybe his numerous bankruptcies and non payment legal problems really reflect his capabilities.

        • Frances, I realize you despise the man, but don’t ignore the truth about him. In school he graduated #1 in his class. In business he has had far more successes than failures. And he was elected President despite everyone saying he didn’t have a chance.

          And regarding his bankruptcies and supposed business failures that the left loves dragging out for display, they were never real failures in the sense that the projects failed…they were simply financial reorganizations. Very common in business. And don’t forget, in order to “fail”, you have to try. The majority of his critics have never even tried, depending instead on someone else to take the risk and provide them a job. Trump has never been afraid of taking on risks and pursuing opportunities.

          What I am saying is that hatred can blind you to what your enemy does well, and that is never good. In your desire to see bad things happen to Trump, you underestimate him, inflate what you think his failures are, and, in the end, convince yourself he is doomed to fail because he is such a flawed human being. Don’t fool yourself because there is a good chance you will be disappointed.

          • “Your spin is incredible. In some quarters it would be called perjury.”

            You have the power to change that…tell me where I am wrong. I have admitted when I was wrong before on this blog. All you have to do is show me where I made my mistake. Please believe me when I say I would rather be embarassed here than to go on thinking I am right when I am wrong.

  2. Now, the only poll that counts is the Senate election in 2018. Right now, today, this hour, the stock market sits at 23.7 Trillion implicitly forecasting 4% growth. If Trump hits 4% growth in 2018 and sustains it through 2020, democrats will be toast and he will have no trouble getting reelected.

    The Pound just hit a 31 year low against the dollar.

  3. “Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president.”

    The key part of that sentence is “Donald Trump will become president…”. Regardless of how Trump compares in popularity with Obama, or Clinton, or Bush, or anyone else, he is the 45th president. Everything else is just a footnote in history.

    • Not necessarily. Presidents, for good or ill, tend to get the bulk of their signature legislative achievements pushed through Congress in the first 100 days, perhaps extending outward to six months or so. The reasons why generally involve the media ingratiating themselves to the new administration in the hopes of getting exclusive stories and access, the fact that legislators are most politically insulated (elections are far away), and because the President generally enjoys higher levels of favorability (in part because of the first reason).

      The lack of popularity doesn’t negate the fact that he will, barring acts of god, become president. It does suggest that he may have limited ability to push through his agenda, even in spite of the GOP having control of the House and Senate.

      • That’s true, Edward, but to be honest, I think he will have problems with his agenda (whatever his “agenda” may be) no matter what.

        • Yeah, it’s difficult to determine his “agenda” from his short messages delivered via Twitter.

          The only constant that really stands out for Trump these last eight years is his seething hatred for the first AA president. As the self appointed leader of the Birther Movement, which sought to delegitimize Obama’s presidency, Trump’s only real agenda appears to be the dismantling Obama’s legacy. And he apparently intends to do this without regard for the consequences. And, of course, the Two Satans, Paul and Mitch, are on board because they share that same hatred.

  4. the only poll that counted was on election day. the democratic party has had 16 years to pass the popular vote initiative. yet only 11 states have. clinton carried 20 states. california’s 4,000,000 more votes made clinton the popular vote winner. in the other 49 states democrats are a minority. look at all the red states in the middle of the country. we nearly lost minnesota. next time we may lose it too! corey booker would have prevent clinton getting only 88% of black vote the difference in penn. wisc. mich. when will democratic party put popular vote initiative on ballot here instead wasting money on the next fred duval or ann kirkpatricks igo trip?

    • censored, the National Popular Vote Compact Bill is not yet an Initiative … but it should be. It WAS introduced and passed last year in the Arizona State House but died in the Senate and likely would not have succeeded in getting the Governor’s signature. Still it PASSED the House! But I do agree with you that the only way to make serious progress with it will be as an Initiative. However do you know how much MONEY it takes to get a citizen’s Inititative on the ballot? (AZBlueMeanie has the figures). It’s VERY expensive. Which means you have to have backers with deep pockets for the Initiative. Unfortunately there are many worthy bills that should be passed in the Legislature and could be passed as Initiatives but can’t get funding. IF we can get enough funding then we not only have to get several hundred thousand signatures, but we have to convince voters to vote for it, best back lies promoted by the opposition, AND turn back legal challenges. All of that costs money. Unlike the RNC the DNC doesn’t have a stable of billionaires with deep pockets to fund everything. Unfortunately democracy is neither free nor easy. Still, I support the National Popular Vote Compact Bill and hope that it is passed by Initiative in more states soon.

      • “Unlike the RNC the DNC doesn’t have a stable of billionaires with deep pockets to fund everything.”

        I hate to bust your bubble on this, but that is not true. Among the top ten 10 billionaires in the United States ALL of them invest heavily in democrat projects. Among the top 25 billionaires in the Unites States, only the Koch Brothers contribute to Republicans.

        “I support the National Popular Vote Compact Bill and hope that it is passed by Initiative in more states soon.”

        The Constitution is very clear on this. An Amendment must start in congress and then be approved by 3/4th of the State Legislatures. The Inititative Process will not work for Amendments to the Constitution.

        • Technically true, but not true in practice.

          Article II gives states complete power to award their electoral votes in the manner they see fit. It just so happens that, at present, 48 states + DC use statewide WTA as their method to allocate electoral votes.

          However, if states who collectively have at least 270 EV’s decide to award their EV’s to the national popular vote winner, this in effect does an end-around of the Constitutional amendment process, since the states are already using power explicitly granted them.

          (Also, an Amendment need not start in Congress. 2/3rds of state legislatures can also call a Convention to propose Amendments for ratification)

          • “Also, an Amendment need not start in Congress. 2/3rds of state legislatures can also call a Convention to propose Amendments for ratification.”

            Yes, you are correct. I usually ignore that because there hasn’t another Constitutional Convention called since the original one. I think it highly unlikely we will ever have another one because of the difficulty of getting 2/3rd’s of the States to agree on anything.

            You are also correct about the individual States being able to decide how to handle the Electoral College issue. I erroneously assumed you were talking about a Constitutional Amendment. Sorry for the confusion…

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