Donald Trump’s lack of national popularity has been the one consistent feature of his political career. Since the 1980s, Trump had built an entire brand based on the misconception that he was good at business and economically savvy.
By hammering this untruth into American culture for decades, and using his reality show The Apprentice as a megaphone for the message, Trump was able to enter politics based on a myth.
During his first reign Trump has rebranded Obama’s economic success as its own, riding the fumes of what was left of the Obama economy, but Trump’s tax cuts for the rich and the first trade war with China had pushed the United States into recession before COVID arrived.
The pandemic gave Trump an excuse that for the first time covered up his undermining of the American economy.
After voters elected Joe Biden and then got angry at Democrats for not being able to make inflation go away, part of the electorate fell back on Trump’s big lie that he could lower costs and inflation just by winning the election.
Trump has not solved the cost and inflation problem. In fact, he has made the situation worse, and that is why voters have turned against him.
NBC News reported that Trump’s approval rating has hit an all-time low in their poll:
Overall, 37% of adults approve of Trump’s performance as president, while 63% disapprove — including 50% who say they strongly disapprove — putting his job rating at the lowest point of his second term in the NBC News Decision Desk polls. Two-thirds of respondents also disapproved of Trump’s handling of inflation and the conflict with Iran.
Trump’s numbers on the economy are a horror show, and we’ll see why they end his presidency in November.
