Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has an approval rating of just 33 percent. This is paltry for a presidential candidate who, as of August, 19, has just 80 days left before the general election.
The U.S. has more than 146 million registered voters. The total number of Americans who voted in 2012 for either former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama was 126.1 million. Thirty-three percent of that is 41,6 million.
Even if we rounded that number down to 40 million, that still leaves tens of millions of people who approve of Trump as our next president!
Even if some Republicans are holding their nose as they vote, it’s still tens of millions of people.
I find that shocking.
We’ve seen Trump on the campaign trail now for more than a year. We’ve heard the spectacularly crude and inflammatory things he’s said over and over and over again.
Just when we thought he might rein it in and start learning what his position as a political leader entails, he’d tell us that the Kahn family had no right to “viciously” attack him.
Before I Go On…
…Let me preface this musing by saying, “I like Trump.” There… I said it, and I meant it.
I just do NOT like him as a presidential candidate.
I can’t help but have a certain amount of respect for a “successful” businessperson. Even if his dealings have not always been fair, or barely legal.
The fact is, with the polls the way they look now, Trump will mostly likely lose this race.
He’s demonstrated he’s not right for the job. Mainly because he just keeps on winging it. That’s how he won the Republican primary, but winging it is no way to run a general election campaign, let alone the mighty United States.
Why Are So Many People On His Side – Even Reluctantly?
Arbiter News aggregated a variety of revealing polls about Trump and his supporters… Shockingly revealing:
- A whopping 91 percent of his post-debate supporters are white, according to MSNBC.
- Trump supporters who want Trump’s proposed Muslim ban stands at 82 percent.
- And 61 percent still think President Obama was not born in the U.S, according to Public Policy Polling.
Can’t Trump supporters do better than that? Maybe not.
Trump is their hero and their mirror. Trump reflects his supporters’ values. He reflects their thinking process, which brings me to what I think is the real reason why Donald Trump’s approval rate is so shocking.
Donald Trump Is…
In many ways, Donald Trump is extraordinary. He is also exceedingly common. Like many white American men, he expects to be heard. He expects to be taken seriously, respected, and above all else, agreed with.
I say this as a white American woman who doesn’t necessarily feel heard, respected, taken seriously, or agreed with much of the time. I’m OK with that by the way. My skin is much thicker than The Donald’s is.
I believe much of the support for The Trumpster comes from so many Americans (especially men) who have the very high expectation of being taken seriously and agreed with. When they aren’t, they feel justified in hitting back.
Perhaps it’s not surprising. After all, it’s still a man’s world… Right?
That’s why it might just be the right time to have a woman running the most powerful nation on Earth.
Check out this video about Trump and his chances as a general election candidate:
Featured Image By Gage Skidmore Via Flickr/CC By SA-2.0.
