Bernie Sanders Congratulates Donald Trump For Record Low Approval Rating
Bernie Sanders today congratulated Donald Trump for President Trump’s record-breaking approval rating. According to Business Insider, Donald Trump will conclude his first 100 days as the president of the United States with the lowest approval rating of any president in modern history. The story references a Washington Post/ABC poll that finds 42 percent of respondents approve of the job Trump is doing while 53 percent of respondents disapprove. These are the worst numbers of any president since the poll began in 1945.
Bernie Sanders, never one to mince words, took to Facebook to sarcastically congratulate Donald Trump on the poll’s results.
“Congratulations to President Trump! He has set a new record — having the lowest approval rating of any president after the first three months in office,” Sanders wrote. “This tells us something very important. Americans clearly aren’t on board with his disastrous agenda: xenophobic immigration policies, throwing millions off health care, putting corporate profits over the safety of our environment, and many more horrible decisions.”
https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/posts/10155865017022908
In fact, the Washington Post/ABC poll is not an outlier. A similar poll conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal found that only 40 percent of respondents approve of the job President Donald Trump is doing. In that poll, an additional 19 percent of respondents described Trump’s job performance so far as “only fair” while only 35 percent of respondents described his performance as either “good” or “great.”
Trump approval rating at historic low. More details: https://t.co/vQZtxcZ1bd pic.twitter.com/VgdWl61fGm
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 24, 2017
One possible reason for Trump’s steadily sinking approval numbers is his failure to follow through on promises made during his campaign. According to a recent Chicago Tribune article, Donald Trump has thus far managed to keep only 10 out of 38 promises he put forth in his original 100-day “contract” with voters. For example, Trump vowed a repeal and replacement of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, but that failed in the House due to dissent within his own party to the proposed replacement package. Trump has also backtracked on his original vow to force Mexico to pay for his promised border wall. Trump has now threatened Democrats with a government shutdown if they don’t approve congressional funding for the expensive border wall proposal.
On China, Trump once promised he would be tough on the country he described as “currency manipulators” who were perpetrating the “greatest theft in the history of the world” against the United States due to unfair trading policies. Trump the candidate said he’d be tough on China and simultaneously force them to take care of the North Korea nuclear situation. Trump the president did a fill 180-degree turn against this rhetoric and said China is not a currency manipulator, and the country hasn’t budged regarding its stance on their North Korean allies.
Of course, another possible explanation is the growing realization among Americans that Trump’s ideas and proposals are bad to begin with, although that is always a matter of debate.
Many of Donald Trump’s die-hard supporters still refuse to take a critical view of Trump’s inability to follow through on these promises and are sticking by the president. The general population who are not part of Trump’s personality cult are not as forgiving. While some may be willing to stick it out and give the president a few more months to “make America great again,” their patience will only continue to wear thin as time marches on.
Compared to Donald Trump, Sanders continues to ride high on a wave of popular appeal. According to Newsweek, a recent Harvard-Harris poll conducted in mid-April lists Bernie Sanders as the most popular politician in the United States, with 57 percent of respondents viewing him favorably, while only 32 percent of respondents viewed him unfavorably. That same poll found that only 44 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Donald Trump.
Poll: Trump ends first 100 days with lowest approval rating of any president in history of poll https://t.co/ks8eDPeUiH pic.twitter.com/PzGdsNaZvv
— The Hill (@thehill) April 21, 2017
[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]
