Donald Trump was proud Rasmussen gave him a 48 percent approval rating when he was out of the country. But no sooner than his boastful tweet appeared Twitter answered back with an insistent question: Is 48 percent good? Then individual tweets from all over provided evidence that the "high" number from a Republican-leaning firm was contradicted by almost everyone else in the polling industry.
History is prolog
When Donald Trump began his march to the West Wing he relied on polls to build his credibility with the American people. His rise on the Republican side was meteoric.
He was Teflon. Mitt Romney, the former GOP nominee who lost to Barack Obama in 2008, gave a highly publicized speech calling Trump a con artist and unfit for office.
Trump kept rising, supported by a base that was sick of establishment politics. His polls inched upward and every rise was proclaimed by Donald Trump as a great victory.
Trump went on to achieve a remarkable result in the polls, He won the electoral college by a substantial margin. He lost the popular vote by some three million. The margin of victory came down to about 80,000 votes in three large swing states.
Trump squeaked by and ever since then he has suggested that the narrowness of the actual victory was due to the election being rigged.
Turnaround
Now, following a whirlwind visit to countries that are home to the three great Abrahamic religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, the president' seems back in form. But that is hardly the case.
There is the tweet. It is clearly addressed to his base. But Trump was suffering umbrage abroad for shoving a dignitary to get to his spot for a photo shoot.
Ivanka was widely criticized for boasting about her audience with Pope Francis, And Trump was facing grief at home. The West Wing is now a fortress devoted to saving him from impeachment.
Thank you for your support. Together, we will MAKE AMERICA SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN!#POTUSAbroad #USA🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/42vCwr5GkA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2017
On Twitter the reaction to Trump's tweet was fierce.
Do you think he doesn't understand that 48% approval means 52% disapproval? https://t.co/rGXYJtuOui
— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) May 25, 2017
Still under water
This is the highest approval rating he's had in any poll for weeks, it's a significant outlier, and it's still sub-50% https://t.co/1TkRqqRaYY
— Jeremy Venook (@JVenook) May 25, 2017
Trump's citation of Rasmussen did not convince knowledgeable Twitter users that he was on the upswing. Others weighed in with some context.
Some context:
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 25, 2017
Gallup 39%
Fox News 40%
Economist/YouGov 40%
Reuters/Ipsos 37%
Quinnipiac 37%
Rasmussen 48%
RCP: https://t.co/EI5Yr00zWz https://t.co/HRn4bnBUxb
And Josh Jordan showed that Trump's average approval was the lowest of all recent presidents.
Gallup- Presidential job approval ratings after 120 days in office:
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) May 19, 2017
Carter 64
Reagan 68
HW Bush 63
Clinton 44
W Bush 56
Obama 64
Trump.. 38
Obama upstages
To top everything off, there was an elephant in the room, so to speak. Barack Obama was in Europe soaking up praises while Trump was receiving a mixed reception, the closer he got to coming home. It may have been summarized in this disparaging tweet, suggesting that Trump would not have an easy time of it back in the West Wing.
Boss Baby has a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than this dude. https://t.co/7GFiUHZDhM
— tuck clarry (@tuckclarry) May 25, 2017