Honestly, with so much terrible stuff happening from our administration, a Supreme Court balance in danger of being obliterated from another appointment to the bench, the news has been overwhelming. It’s easy to feel inundated and drowning — like there’s little chance to recover ground that’s been lost. But tonight, Jamelle Bouie has a wonderful article in Slate that is helping me feel a touch more optimistic.
From the article...
Trump rejected Republican orthodoxy on the economy and tied his blue-collar identity politics to support for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as benefits for his supporters. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” he said during the campaign, also promising universal health coverage. “Everybody’s got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say,” he told CBS News in 2016. “I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not.
Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
His voters expected Trump to deliver. “Our bridges are the worst,” said one supporter who attended Trump’s inauguration. “I think what Trump’s going to do is really get this infrastructure built again. He’s going to rebuild it.” Ahead of his first speech to Congress, one supporter told USA Today that he expects the president to “make health care affordable.”
Of course, he hasn’t delivered on any of this. And the trade war talk has a lot of these rural supporters spooked. I was listening to a special CBC broadcast while working near Toronto this weekend where they were taking calls from US and Canadian listeners discussing the trade spat and how its affecting them. The anger is palpable and real. Many of these listeners may have been Clinton supporters two years ago, but my guess is that there wasn’t this level of alarm or anger then. They don’t just feel embarrassed, they feel betrayed.
Bouie further points out that this is having an effect in the Midwest on his net approval ratings.
Judging from his recent approval ratings in predominantly white, blue-collar Midwestern strongholds, the answer is yes. In Ohio and Wisconsin, for example, Trump saw his approval fall 18 points since inauguration for a net rating of minus 4 and minus 12, respectively. In Iowa it fell 16 points to a net rating of minus 7. Trump has also suffered in Michigan, Minnesota, and demographically similar states like Pennsylvania.
Truth is, we are performing strongly there. We are performing strongly everywhere. There’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of fight left to go. Nothing to take for granted, but for one night at least, I’m left feeling more optimistic than before.