Donald Trump Inauguration: Scalpers Are Having A Tough Time Selling Tickets Because ‘Nobody Wants Them’


It is less than two days now before Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States, and while usually there is a lot of enthusiasm among Americans when the nation gets a new president, it does not appear to be the case this time around.

According to several polls conducted just before Trump assumes office on January 20, the real estate mogul-turned-politician is the least likable president at least in the last four decades. A CNN/ORC poll showed that Donald Trump’s approval rating had slipped further down in the two months since his election. Only 40 percent of Americans approve of a President Trump, with more than half of the respondents saying that they feel less confident in Trump’s ability to do the job of president due to his statements since becoming president-elect.

Another poll carried out by ABC News/Washington Post also shared the same numbers, with 54 percent respondents saying that they still had an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. Just to put the numbers in context, outgoing President Barack Obama has a 60 percent approval rating as he leaves office, while the last four presidents all had approval ratings of at least 72 percent for how they handled their transitions, according to The Hill.

A Gallup poll conducted Tuesday showed Trump’s disapproval rating at 51 percent, the lowest approval rating Gallup has recorded for a President-elect just before the inauguration.

And while these numbers clearly show that a large section of Americans are holding their breath as a Donald Trump presidency finally looms over all of us, the President-elect himself was quick to wave off the results of the polls, saying that they were rigged.

“The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before,” Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday, three days before his inauguration.

The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017

But Trump’s confidence in his own presidency appears to be misplaced. It is not only the polls which suggest that Americans are not particularly thrilled with the idea of Donald Trump occupying the most powerful political chair in the free world, but even scalpers who are vying to sell tickets to his inauguration.

Elton John is one of many performers who has refused to perform at Donald Trump’s Inauguration event on January 20. [Image by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]

According to several scalpers who make money by selling tickets for huge profits, people are not interested in attending Donald Trump’s Inauguration ceremony. Yossi Rosenberg, 36, who sometimes scalps tickets to make extra money, bought two tickets to Friday’s event from a woman for $700. He had hoped to sell them for twice as much, but as he told the New York Daily News, he is certain he will have to suffer losses because “nobody wants to buy them.”

“Nobody wants to buy them. It looks like I’m stuck with them, I might even have to go.

I thought they would be in demand. I got offers before I got them, but then I get them and everybody balked.”

Rosenberg then decided to sell his tickets on the forums of some white supremacist websites, but even after haggling there for a while now, he has been unable to find anyone who would pay more than $200 for the tickets.

“Someone offered me $200 for the pair. I guess his approval ratings aren’t that [high], right?” Rosenberg said.

This is not only Rosenberg’s predicament. Other scalpers who had hoped Donald Trump’s celebrity status, coupled with the nature of his frenzied campaign, would mean that people would be vying for the tickets to his inauguration, have been left heavily disappointed. In fact, it seems the Trump transition team is well aware of this situation, as it has been using social media sites like Facebook to unload free tickets to the inauguration, as reported by Mashable.

Over the last few days, several Facebook users have been offered a chance to register for free tickets for Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Such a lack of interest in attending Trump’s inauguration might also spring in part from the fact that most of the A-list performers who had been asked to perform at the event have declined. Performers such as Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, and Celine Dion have made no secrets of their will not to perform at the big event, which has meant that the Trump transition team has had to depend on relatively obscure faces to liven up the event. America’s Got Talent finalist 16-year-old Jackie Evancho is set to sing the national anthem, while Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood have also confirmed their participation for the event. Even so, the dearth of well-known faces means that people are less than excited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration event.

The interest can be gauged by the fact only 200 buses have requested permits for the inauguration, as reported by The Washington Post. Compared to that, the upcoming Women’s March has seen 1,200 requests, while Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration had seen more than 3,000 charter buses being registered for parking permits in the city that day.

[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

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