For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
I’ve put up this chart before, but it’s worth putting up again. This is President Trump’s job approval rating since Inauguration Day:
I’ve read a bunch of stories saying that Trump’s job approval has cratered since he took office, but that’s not really true: it’s gone up two points. Now, it’s also true that his disapproval rating has skyrocketed, which means that his net approval rating (approve minus disapprove) has gone down (from +3 to -6.4).
My take is simple: this means that his fans like him more than ever, while everyone else dislikes him more than ever. Perhaps this level of polarization is normal these days. But it’s a little more complicated than “Trump’s job approval has gone down.”
