How Americans Really Feel About Trump’s First Year

While some thought it could never happen, when Trump was elected over a year ago, there were countless Americans that were overjoyed. On the other end of the spectrum, it should come as no surprise that others were terrified.

Now that a year has passed, what do American citizens think of him now? When he was going into election day, he was showing the worst favorability rating of any presidential candidate, but it is worth noting that Hillary Clinton was not far behind.

This year has had more than its fair share of scandals, natural disasters, mass murders, protests, and now a huge wave of Hollywood sex scandals. He has had a lot to deal with as president and the question now is: is America finally warming up to him?

Job Approval

Taking a look at some recent poll data from November 9, his overall job approval is at -18.6 points with 38.3% approving and 56.9% disapproving. This comes from the Real Clear Politics’ average of some major national polls.

At the beginning of his presidency, there were many different analysts that agreed Trump had approval numbers that were “weaker than other presidents at comparable times in their presidencies.”

While this is a bit disheartening for the president’s supporters, it is not the worst of news. Back in July, Gallup took a deep dive into why these numbers are lower and found that many of those who disapproved of him as president — 65% of them — had a negative perception of him based on his character and personality, not necessarily his job performance in different areas.

This is starkly different to the opinions that were provided for approval ratings for previous presidents such as Barack Obama or George W. Bush.

Economy

For anyone paying attention to what Trump is doing for the economy, it is clear to see that we are taking steps in the right direction.

In the first two months after he was sworn in, he had some positive approval ratings in terms of how he was handling issues with the economy. However, now the needle is not moving much and the percentages on each side are about the same. This is good news in the sense that even though there is quite a bit of media coverage outlining how terrible Trump is doing in this area, saying he has had no impact, or that he is making a fool of the system, the reality is that the country is divided.

It is not a situation where everyone is agreeing with the media, as they would hope you would want. Seeing has the country was divided on who to elect, remaining stable and int he middle is not a bad way to end the first year.

Foreign Policy

When he was sworn in, Trump already started off behind in these numbers. Over the course of the year, his approval rating has been between -10% and -15% and he has not been able to get to the positive side of things. However, with these numbers, it is important to take a look at the global political viewpoints and situations that are occurring to really get a grasp on the numbers.

It would be difficult for any leader to achieve positive numbers in this setting. That being said, the numbers are not terrible when you look at the entire picture. The numbers alone do not tell the entire story.

America’s Direction

The perception of the public when it comes to the direction of the country is something that has not been positive for quite a few years. There was some slight improvement when Trump took office and it has been a roller coaster ride ever sense.

According to the most recent poll numbers, there is a -29.5% gap in approval and disapproval on the subject but that is about a 5% improvement from the numbers that were gathered in the middle of October. Overall, these numbers are moving in the right direction.

Clearly, the mainstream media’s portrayal of Trump’s popularity is anything but accurate. While the president certainly has some work to do in communicating his message, it’s obvious he’s facing stiff opposition from every establishment entity imaginable.

~ Conservative Zone