I do like graphs, because they can tell stories that are not so easy to tell in English. In that, I’m like many geeks. But sometimes those stories are significant, and sometimes they’re ephemeral. I think this one, the graph of Gallup’s Presidential Approval/Disapproval Poll over time, is ephemeral:
No doubt President Trump’s behavior since the mid-term elections, such as his calls for halting ballot counts when “his” candidates are ahead, are fueling this disapproval, along with the fact that the GOP suffered big losses in the mid-terms. His approval ratings have plunged from 44% just a few weeks ago, to 38% this past as of this Monday.
But it doesn’t mean much, really. Everyone, even his supporters in their little enclaves of “Trump Country,” are well aware the President does not poll well; interpretations differ. But so long as the GOP is unwilling to interpret these results as country-wide condemnation of his incompetence, no impeachment will successfully convict him.
Although it’d humiliate him. And it’d be symbolic of this country’s refusal to go into the dark night of fascism under the flag of false charisma which Trump has forever over his head.
But, in the end, approval and disapproval aren’t very meaningful.
