March 20, 2017

A Correction: Here’s How Trump Is Doing Among Republican Voters

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Last night I posted a Gallup chart showing the job approval ratings of the four most recent Republican presidents among Republicans. Unfortunately, I bolluxed it up, so I deleted the whole thing. But now it’s morning and I have time to create the correct chart and make a more constrained point with it, so here it is:

The recent cratering of President Trump’s job approval rating was getting some attention last night, but I think this is a more important chart. What really matters is whether Trump stays popular among Republican voters—and whether this rubs off on the Republican Congress. So far he has. Trump’s popularity among Republican voters during his first two months is as good as any of his predecessors.

This is not everything, of course. Although the House (deliberately) and the Senate (by historical accident) are currently gerrymandered to favor Republicans, centrists still matter. And according to Gallup, Trump is bleeding support among those without a party: his job approval rating has already dropped six percentage points among independents. If that continues it could mean bad news for the 2018 midterms, followed by a one-term presidency. These indies are who Democrats should care about right now. Unless things change, the Republican base remains not just out of reach, but positively thrilled with President Trump.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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