Trump's approval rating is now 44%....the lowest of any incoming president since Gallup has done polling on it.
I would NOT BE SURPRISED....if that were to slip into the 30ish area (mid 20's to low 30's) over the next 12 months...
Buddy, I am a 75 y/o American living as an expat in Panama. I have lived in good times and have few regrets. Although I am not wealthy, it appears that I will be able to live out my life in relative comfort. I had a mild heart attack earlier this year, and realize that my time on this planet is limited - but I fear for the next generations.
I agree on the likelihood that Trumps ratings will drop steadily. I believe that less than 1/4 of the "eligible" U.S. voters actually voted for him, and he lost the popular vote by over 2 million.
The American right wing - a corporate funded and run sector - has used hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the finest persuasive propaganda and media techniques money can buy. With the new and very persuasive powers of the internet, they pushed propaganda like the highly successful "Put Hillary the liar in Jail" meme. This Hillary and jail meme is a "huge" obsession with Trump fans, and he will lose support as he abandons this and other campaign promises. Also, Trump is not "draining the Washington DC swamp of insiders and lobbyists" as he promised to do, but rather he expanding the boundaries of that swamp and increasing it's influence.
Trump cannot "bring the jobs back" because many of them don't exist. He believes in stiffing workers and not honoring contracts, tries to cheat the unions at his hotels, and is not likely to support increasing the minimum wage requirements. He buys foreign goods instead of buying U.S. made products. Based on such facts, it is illogical - even insane - for people to believe that he would bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He can't - and he won't do these things - but how will his supporters react when he tries to pass the blame for his failures?
More and more semi-skilled and skilled manufacturing and repetitive jobs continue to disappear due to replacement by robotics and automation. There are many people in the U.S. and elsewhere with less than average IQ - after all, and IQ of 100 is "average" and about one-third of the population is between 85 and 115 IQ. (Like population issues, this topic is uncomfortable for many people to discuss.) Many modern technology jobs require higher intelligence and sitting in a cubicle. But even high-tech jobs are not immune to pay degradation. I went from $55/hour as senior desktop support tech for Windows, and senior Novell network administrator in 2000 - to leaving the field when I couldn't get a job above $12/hr in 2001. (And of course, being 60 y/o and slower and les efficient than the young hot-shot techies didn't help.)
People of "less than average" intelligence could in the past work at well-paying union and non-union manufacturing jobs, buy nice cars and houses, and live as friends and neighbors of many of the "more intelligent" segments of human societies. In the futurist and utopian novels and books I read in my youth, the "workers" - who did the hard, dangerous and often boring manufacturing jobs - would be replaced by robots and automation - and that is exactly what is happening. The fatal flaw in the reasoning of those futurist writings was that they expected the working class to be freed to pursue art, poetry and other intellectual and cultural pursuits - which requires that the "system" (governments?) would have to provide incomes to the displaced workers, because the wealth would be created by the machines, not the labor of humans.
We all know how that turned out - rather than supporting the displaced workers, the wealth flowed - and continues to flow - into the bank accounts of the uber wealthy - the real "elites." And while their accumulation of wealth continues to grow, they have managed to deflect the logic and reason about blue-collar job losses towards blaming "trade agreements" and ethnic and racial hatred. The very people who have been duped and robbed of their livelihoods believe that they can and will be rich and successful themselves - if only they work with the Tea Party folks and elect and support the very people who took their jobs away - the corporate interests. This is freaking insane - and I don't know what can be done about it - especially since the concept of politicians and judges as public servants rather than corporate toadies has been pretty much lost. Do those rare remaining dedicated public servants like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and some of the new incoming Democratic women senators stand a chance of holding back the tide? If their job performance is strong as they oppose the policies and practices of Trump and his incoming administration, will they inspire voters to send them "reinforcements" two years from now in the next election cycle?
I could go on with the details, probably for many, many pages, but I will stop and summarize thusly:
In the past few decades, there have been fundamental changes in the financial, manufacturing, and communication sectors of modern western society. These changes have caused permanent job losses for large numbers of people and the reduction or elimination of reasonable income for this segment. Those people cannot - or will not - face reality and recognize the true causes of manufacturing job losses and the redistribution of wealth to the already wealthy. Plus, human psychology hinders the ability of many to recognize the present and future threats of environmental degradation and AGW/CC.
With narcissism and greed dominating politics more and more, sacrifice and a reduction in energy and resource use are not popular ideas. Right-wing and nationalist liars are ascending to positions of power in many democracies around the world, leaving those who rely on reason, science, and logic to chart a course into the future with a very difficult task. The legend of Sisyphus has taken on new meaning as I watch the Trump and other nationalists and greedy monsters replace leaders who at least tried to make even a small bit of progress towards dealing with the problems that we humans face. Even if the U.S. turns the politics around a bit in two and four years, the boulders of positive progress are right now rolling back down the hill.
Cross-posted at Dr. Ricky Rood's Wunderground Climate Change Blog