one thing i've taken away from surveys asking the public to evaluate trump's most authoritarian moves is that the ordinary americans have a much clearer sense of what's happening than most professional political observers
Replies
Admittedly cynical alternate theory - the pros know what is happening and are acting in ways that reflect narrow pursuits of pure self-interest.
aug 27, 2025, 3:12 pm • 0 0 • view
Now imagine how out of touch with average Americans the average federal politician is.
aug 27, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view
As if 38% support is not alarmingly high.
aug 27, 2025, 12:47 pm • 9 0 • view
This is actually pretty fucking terrifying.
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 3 0 • view
That this sophomoric poser’s ravings are treated as meaningful philosophy so disturbing. Fake it not just till you make it but perpetually.
aug 28, 2025, 2:35 pm • 0 0 • view
You can get 38% of Americans to say yes to literally anything.
aug 27, 2025, 8:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Still looking for a pundit to point out that Trump has *deployed* martial law, even if he hasn’t declared it.
aug 27, 2025, 1:37 pm • 0 0 • view
Democratic consultants are the same as white shoe lawyers. They reflexively advise caution on everything, because risk also means risking their monthly retainer, which is their ultimate motivator.
aug 27, 2025, 1:36 pm • 0 0 • view
Didn’t the 2022 & 2024 elections teach all y’all how wrong polls are?
aug 27, 2025, 1:11 pm • 0 0 • view
The poorest of us are always on the front lines
aug 27, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Most pundits are still stuck in the 1990s. When will we mentally move on from there?
aug 27, 2025, 1:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Americans are clear eyed about it and that’s what makes leadership silence/inaction more infuriating
aug 27, 2025, 4:39 pm • 0 0 • view
If it doesnt happen to them, is it really happening?
aug 27, 2025, 12:38 pm • 6 0 • view
These are the people who fiercely oppose gay marriage or rights for trans folks until their child comes out. I'm always glad when they see the light, but scratch my head over their lack of imagination and empathy.
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 5 1 • view
40% of Americans want an authoritarian. I find that frightening. Democracy isn't going to last very long with that lack of support.
aug 27, 2025, 2:08 pm • 0 0 • view
I agree USA citizens are very aware!
aug 27, 2025, 4:57 pm • 0 0 • view
A MUCH clearer sense. Every time I read an article where a pundit is surprised by something Trump does, I've already been hearing about it "on the street" for weeks. It's not surprise now as much as reluctance to report they were completely wrong.
aug 27, 2025, 1:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Perhaps, professional political observers do have a clear understanding but they obscure it deliberately.
aug 27, 2025, 1:06 pm • 0 0 • view
Liberal media are accidentally glazing Trump all day. They literally cannot get enough of him. Every mistake or stupid decision gets defended to the death by centrists while fair journalism crumbles around them. Frogs only stayed in the boiling pot after they remove their brains, first.
aug 27, 2025, 1:52 pm • 2 0 • view
and yet 38% is too gotdam high.
aug 27, 2025, 12:45 pm • 15 0 • view
yeah 40% still supporting this proves that “most voters” were not in fact motivated by grocery prices
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 13 0 • view
That's not completely true, he is just a good salesman, and people are pretty fucking stupid. Maybe they're waking up, in Iowa at least.
aug 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 3 0 • view
Or most professional political observers are lying.
aug 27, 2025, 11:38 pm • 0 0 • view
In this area they do have a clearer sense. In crime/other areas, they don't. Since most media are RghtWng, most Americans believe many lies. That's why they gave GOP control of all 3 branches of gov Many ppl @ least know some1 in a city, so reality is clearer in this area bsky.app/profile/mark...
aug 27, 2025, 3:16 pm • 3 0 • view
Something about being in the bubble. I was in the bubble in 2024 because my standard of living was high and I was sure Kamala would win. In 2016, I was unemployed, broke, and living in a lower middle class household, and I knew Trump would win.
aug 27, 2025, 3:44 pm • 0 0 • view
I knew from the first debate he would win in 2016. I could see the enthusiasm all around me. Last time around, everybody around me was a Kamala supporter and hated Trump.
aug 27, 2025, 3:46 pm • 0 0 • view
If this is not the America you want, please do something about it: www.mobilize.us www.fiftyfifty.one indivisible.org www.nokings.org maydaystrong.org www.lwv.org www.rockthevote.org www.vote.org www.aclu.org www.senate.gov/senators/sen... www.house.gov/representati...
aug 27, 2025, 4:58 pm • 0 0 • view
Still, that average of 40% approval is far too high. And I believe most of them are people I know here in Florida. I'm disgusted and disturbed by the negative sum of empathy in society.
aug 27, 2025, 4:52 pm • 4 0 • view
I will never not be deeply disturbed that his approval is anywhere near 40%. What the fuck is wrong with our country honestly get me out of here
aug 27, 2025, 2:42 pm • 8 0 • view
Yeah, about half of americans are freaks and that is underreported.
aug 28, 2025, 9:34 am • 0 0 • view
There isn’t a universe where an American pollster hasn’t been contacted by a Trump goon. I wouldn’t put much faith in such numbers.
aug 27, 2025, 10:13 pm • 0 0 • view
those numbers for independent voters are important; about half of Americans are independent voters or registered as "unaffiliated" (the option in NC)
aug 27, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
The last ditch of democracy is, and always will be, the people.
aug 27, 2025, 1:13 pm • 0 0 • view
My question is this: Who exactly are they polling? In my 58 years, I have never been asked!
aug 27, 2025, 1:13 pm • 4 1 • view
yeah, i don't think one has to fully understand how trump is being authoritarian to understand one doesn't enjoy the outcomes.
aug 27, 2025, 12:42 pm • 2 0 • view
How is his approval rating at 40%?
aug 27, 2025, 7:34 pm • 0 0 • view
The public is far ahead of the press on this issue. Let's pray that a Kent State incident does not happen. The spin will be unbelievable.
aug 27, 2025, 1:08 pm • 2 0 • view
It's why my uncertainty bars about everything are so wide
aug 27, 2025, 12:42 pm • 2 0 • view
Anecdotally this is not at all the case amongst people I know and specifically suburbanites. Willful ignorance in abundance
aug 27, 2025, 1:24 pm • 0 0 • view
Mostly in asylums
aug 27, 2025, 1:52 pm • 0 0 • view
But isn't 38 percent approval very strong approval? Those were Hitler's numbers in 1932.
aug 27, 2025, 3:53 pm • 0 0 • view
Jamelle, that is their job. Clarity would be malpractice.
aug 28, 2025, 7:16 pm • 0 0 • view
That's really interesting. Perspective is powerful.
aug 27, 2025, 1:06 pm • 0 0 • view
But will they use that clearer sense in the next elections?
aug 27, 2025, 3:09 pm • 1 0 • view
The overall approval number is wild though.
aug 27, 2025, 5:34 pm • 0 0 • view
Why would anyone believe a dude who took THREE tries to (barely) win the majority of the popular vote has Beatle-esque in popularity?
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 0 0 • view
This graph is just a total indictment of the pundit class. Most political analysts in print and on TV act as if Trump is marshaling huge popularity as he imposes crazed control, a ton of incompetence, and nothing looks bright or hopeful in the future. The public hates all this. Yeah is base
aug 27, 2025, 2:39 pm • 1 0 • view
loves it, but they're 30% of the electorate!! It belies that the pundit-analyst class just wants the frisson of excitement of living through a totalitarian takeover.
aug 27, 2025, 3:27 pm • 2 0 • view
They feel compelled to entertain the notion that most people might be wrong about Trump because an almost-majority elected him 9 1/2 months ago.
aug 27, 2025, 1:16 pm • 0 0 • view
i find it so difficult to come to grips with the tendency of ppl who consider themselves smart at politics to put their own (i have to assume) worst beliefs in the mouth of the "ordinary american". they cannot comprehend the ppl as fully human, complex actors
aug 27, 2025, 1:10 pm • 0 0 • view
I think maybe rich people like him because they like being rich and he helps the rich
aug 27, 2025, 3:22 pm • 0 0 • view
So very true. We have a lot of truly stupid people spouting opinions who are repeatedly failing to recognize the truths in front of their faces.
aug 28, 2025, 2:59 am • 0 0 • view
40% approval rating is still obscene.
aug 27, 2025, 1:26 pm • 0 0 • view
How can you interpret that a full 40% of Americans who feel that a convicted criminal, rapist and dictator who uses military force against citizens, who's made no bones about what he wants to do about people of color (including disappearing their history) is an acceptable thing in American society?
aug 27, 2025, 2:22 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm still stunned that 38% of the population support this.
aug 27, 2025, 2:01 pm • 0 0 • view
I'd question the 'professional' in that, currently
aug 27, 2025, 1:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Glad to see the other numbers. But who are those 40% and did this repulsive madman honestly win two elections?
aug 27, 2025, 3:32 pm • 0 0 • view
The thing about fascist dictatorships? They don't give a f++k about your polls.
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 0 0 • view
The professional political observers look at it through the prism of "how good is the market for selling books and articles under authoritarianism?" Some of our elected Dems look at this or that authoritarian stunt as if it was a distraction from the price of eggs. Me? I'm scared.
aug 27, 2025, 12:43 pm • 4 0 • view
some guy off the street: "yeah this is pretty fucking bad" most of our green room pundits: "ah but you see, trump has an advantage on crime so democrats should be careful not to sound too opposed"
aug 27, 2025, 12:38 pm • 3,373 378 • view
It’s almost as if the entire format being brilliantly designed to sell ads/papers over the years, greasing the wheels of capitalist media, is a huge fucking problem. When the truth is gated by profit motive and power, we all live in wage slavery in an American mirage.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 4 0 • view
God forbid they ask the obvious question assuming everything the administration is saying about crime is true: Will we continue to pay for this show of force in dozens of cities in perpetuity?
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 2 0 • view
But its just a distraction from kitchen table issues.
aug 27, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Whoa whoa whoa settle down there, Mark Penn
aug 27, 2025, 12:39 pm • 1 0 • view
Also some guy of the street, around 2 out of 5 times: “this is good”
aug 27, 2025, 2:53 pm • 1 0 • view
They'd be out of the job and the industry if they told the bald faced truth though, so there's also a financial incentive there. Democrats themselves are tweeting through either actual or threatened military occupations of their own cities and calling it a distraction. How do you shake that?
aug 27, 2025, 12:45 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes. Pundit Brain is real.
aug 28, 2025, 1:36 pm • 1 0 • view
I don’t understand why they think he has a handle on crime just because he enjoys committing them.
aug 27, 2025, 5:15 pm • 1 0 • view
Nero intellectualized. Rome is Gone.
aug 27, 2025, 12:39 pm • 1 0 • view
aug 27, 2025, 3:35 pm • 1 0 • view
I have a theory that so many pundits have dumb contrarian takes because they grew up playing Command and Conquer and the first two WarCraft games. They were able to play as the bad guys, so they thought that the bad guys might have a point. Despite the bad guys being unambiguously bad.
aug 27, 2025, 12:50 pm • 2 0 • view
They were also probably brainwashed by a unit who said "the ends justify the means" or some other bullshit whenever you directed it to do something and made it their personality because they thought it sounded cool
aug 27, 2025, 12:51 pm • 1 0 • view
Fucking consultants wrecked the Democratic Party altogether. Probably paid by Putin.
aug 27, 2025, 6:12 pm • 1 0 • view
the other thing is that this is so easy to predict and the only reason so many of our pundits have a hard time with it is because they have fully bought the idea that Trump is some pure representation of what the Volk wants.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 1,927 140 • view
Oh God, they're like Hollywood executives that force studios to make copycat films off of a blockbuster's success, regardless of why that specific film became such a hit, just a vague "this is what the people want " THE PEOPLE MORE OFTEN THEN NOT DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT!!!
aug 27, 2025, 3:01 pm • 7 1 • view
Steve Jobs was kind of an asshole, and he was right that folks mostly don’t quite know what they want.
aug 28, 2025, 2:58 am • 3 1 • view
I think it’s because a lot of them genuinely believe that America belongs to rich white bigots, even if they personally find that tacky or otherwise objectionable. They simply don’t question that they’re entitled to call the shots.
aug 27, 2025, 12:54 pm • 177 3 • view
Big problem with some in politics, media is they believe most people are idiots, have low respect for anyone who is not rich--especially if they go to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford or Yale. But even if not. But I think they learn it from their parents, and believe it before they get to college?
aug 27, 2025, 4:02 pm • 5 0 • view
I mean, many political pundits also happen to be rich white bigots so they want the country to belong to rich white bigots
aug 27, 2025, 2:54 pm • 4 0 • view
It's more like they all live in extremely elite enclaves and think normal Americans are disgusting, stupid hogs and therefore they must all worship and love Trump.
aug 27, 2025, 8:32 pm • 1 0 • view
It's like the billionaire tech bros who are incapable of ordering lunch at a counter staffed with real people but who think that they can run our lives so much better than we can.
aug 27, 2025, 1:43 pm • 108 2 • view
I think you just solved a mystery. I always assumed that David Brooks made up his unnamed "friend with only a high school degree" who was terrified of soppressata. But college drop-out is a common billionaire bro trope, so maybe... www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/o...
aug 27, 2025, 6:17 pm • 15 0 • view
That’s giving them a huge benefit of the doubt though. I think it’s just as likely that they want fascism because it protects their elite status.
aug 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 3 0 • view
I think this because he's a pure representation of what they want, but it would be crass and somewhat embarrassing to admit it.
aug 27, 2025, 1:13 pm • 3 0 • view
well, that and they don't rub elbows with us rabble; everyday people are entirely theoretical to them.
aug 28, 2025, 4:24 am • 3 0 • view
or maybe they’re just empty careerists following the monied path of least resistance
aug 27, 2025, 2:28 pm • 5 0 • view
They seem enamored with the "Trump is a political genius with great instincts" myth despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary.
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 11 0 • view
Could be, possibly unconsciously, picking up the framing that city dwellers aren't part of Real America
aug 27, 2025, 1:15 pm • 2 0 • view
Now I have stuck in my head “what a Volk wants, what a Volk needs”
aug 27, 2025, 12:57 pm • 9 0 • view
The pundit class, mainstream media, and the Democratic establishment are enabling the #TrumpRegime in its destruction of #American #democracy.
aug 27, 2025, 1:33 pm • 1 0 • view
My point us you don't know own what you're talking about.
aug 27, 2025, 3:22 pm • 0 0 • view
Punditry... a job where you can be wrong all the time and still get paid.
aug 27, 2025, 3:21 pm • 1 0 • view
A corollary to this, every time a democratic president does something it must be an intrinsically unpopular overreach. Republican presidents, unless they cause a massive economic crisis, are conduits of the public’s consensus.
aug 27, 2025, 1:20 pm • 4 2 • view
EVERONE says trump won a majority of the popular vote in 2024! 🤪 Even @Chrislhayes.bsky.social nodded along when Bill Mckibben said it
aug 27, 2025, 9:02 pm • 3 1 • view
I wonder if some this too is that for pundits shaped by the post 9/11, Iraq War era learned that there are never consequences for being too right wing, only being too left wing
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 22 0 • view
There is also the factor that some of these pundits know that the people signing their pay checks have a vested interest in Trump gutting the Federal government. Or they simply don't want to deal with Trump bullshit and decided kissing the ring is more profitable.
aug 28, 2025, 4:30 pm • 2 0 • view
I think roughly 25% of any given population is authoritarian by disposition. That is never going to change much. But if you're a member of the plutocracy you focus on that 25%. And you use control of media to fluff that 25% up to 40%.
aug 27, 2025, 12:57 pm • 10 0 • view
I think you have their self-image pegged. Yet the other side is that they are themselves also aligned with the plutocratic/plutocrat wannabe crowd --and Trump works mostly to the benefit of those so they HAVE to do acrobatics to promote him--even while pretending objectivity.
aug 27, 2025, 5:26 pm • 3 0 • view
Pundits also completely oblivious to the size and energy of the grassroots actions taking place everywhere all the time.
aug 27, 2025, 12:52 pm • 6 0 • view
Easy to do when your paycheck depends on it
aug 27, 2025, 12:47 pm • 1 0 • view
It's because 1) they share many of the same gutter bigotries, and 2) most of them seem desperate to prove that Democrats can 'win' if they would only throw the specific group the pundit hates (trans people, Palestinians, socialists, etc.) under the bus
aug 27, 2025, 4:06 pm • 8 0 • view
...Black people.
aug 27, 2025, 5:09 pm • 1 0 • view
A lot of Trump voters were basically voting for a Pre-Covid country again. Didn't even know what his policies were. Mind you this made them ignorant fools but it also means there was never anything like the monolithic support for the agenda the Media assumed there was.
aug 27, 2025, 3:22 pm • 20 4 • view
2. Remember all the people who only bothered to Google 'tariff' AFTER the election? And heard of a Hispanic guy who voted for Trump to lower the cost of his parents grocery bills...only to learn the day after the election about mass deportations.
aug 27, 2025, 3:23 pm • 14 1 • view
I've got a Cuban friend whose brother lives in Florida and voted for Trump because he still thinks Republicans will free Cuba. 🙄
aug 27, 2025, 3:26 pm • 18 0 • view
'He's only gonna go after the Bad Hombres! That's what the Spanish right wing radio station I listen to said!'
aug 27, 2025, 3:28 pm • 15 0 • view
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jW... <-basically the entire US media since last November
aug 27, 2025, 4:04 pm • 2 0 • view
If that’s true, then vuck the volk.
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 2 0 • view
I don't think that holds water unless it's a recent development. He wasn't getting the same level of fauning coverage from pundits during his first term.
aug 27, 2025, 6:22 pm • 0 0 • view
*trump eeks out two election wins* DC pundits: “it’s clear from these victories that Americans overwhelmingly want to throw out 250 years of democratic governance”
aug 27, 2025, 5:36 pm • 7 0 • view
Idiots
aug 27, 2025, 5:44 pm • 0 0 • view
& in this situation "Volk" is truly le mot juste.
aug 27, 2025, 2:33 pm • 2 1 • view
And more likely it's about kleptocracy.
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 1 0 • view
They like Trump. The end.
aug 27, 2025, 3:09 pm • 2 0 • view
You aren’t giving them agency. I suspect (no matter what they tell you “behind closed doors”) that they actually agree with most of Trump’s actions given their status and circles.
aug 27, 2025, 1:25 pm • 5 1 • view
I wanna know who that 38% is tho
aug 27, 2025, 5:23 pm • 1 0 • view
When all you ever do is interview people in rural diners, it’s easy to think that Trump is the definition of “mandate from the people”. It would be oh so nice if news and media would stop pretending like cities don’t exist or that they aren’t the population centers of the country.
aug 27, 2025, 1:00 pm • 29 0 • view
The thing is, the pundit class aren't doing those interviews in rural diners. They have stringers handle that. Mostly the pundits are just talking to each other (and no one else) at NY/DC dinner parties.
aug 27, 2025, 1:13 pm • 30 1 • view
Yeah, if you actually did go and interview people in rural diners, you'd get a mixed bag of opinions on everything. There will be ride-or-dies for Trump there, but lots of people aren't - that's true anywhere you go, people tend to have messy political views.
aug 27, 2025, 1:29 pm • 18 0 • view
Thanks for this. I live in a place that is probably considered rural by the city folk. If I, as a white lady, was interviewed at a diner, I would call Trump a menace to the country and the world and without question, the stupidest human alive. So would my many rural(ish) friends.
aug 27, 2025, 2:22 pm • 7 0 • view
Still waiting the the swing-state safari that begins with "we talked to voters in a Philadelphia taqueria".
aug 27, 2025, 1:41 pm • 7 0 • view
You should start asking them how they want to be eaten if they prefer medium rare or something else. We common folk are getting hungry.
aug 27, 2025, 2:38 pm • 0 0 • view
They like Trump and want to help him rule us like a king.
aug 27, 2025, 2:34 pm • 5 0 • view
His base is the group most coddled by the pundit class.
aug 27, 2025, 1:43 pm • 4 0 • view
Pundits don’t seem willing or able to analyze things on their own terms. They always want to make it about the partisan advantage/disadvantage. Is this good/bad? vs Will this help/hurt a political party? They only ask the latter.
aug 27, 2025, 12:47 pm • 13 0 • view
Why the fuck does Trump have an advantage on crime…because he creates it? Your green room pundits must be neoliberal controlled opposition.
aug 27, 2025, 2:58 pm • 2 0 • view
It's the kind of thing you might say around the kitchen table, in fact.
aug 27, 2025, 12:58 pm • 2 0 • view
The idea that there is a plan or purpose to any of it is so misguided. Trump is fast and loose in every sentence. He doesn't say "people want a dictator" because he's planning, it just comes out of his mouth and then he works with it. Same with the rest of them, they are flailing(and failing up).
aug 27, 2025, 4:29 pm • 1 0 • view
They aren't really executing on Project 2025 as a plan, they are trying to do all the things in it in hopes that some stick. There isn't a 4D chess game, there is a 1D poker game that is all bluff and no cards. They all just push every possible button and claim the result is what they were after.
aug 27, 2025, 4:29 pm • 2 0 • view
“Actually by saying crime is down you’re implicitly accepting the premise” is a real thing I saw someone say
aug 27, 2025, 12:40 pm • 25 0 • view
"That's besides the point: he's literally violating Posse Comitatus in a madman's powergrab that Hitler would be jealous of - and before you say 'don't exaggerate by calling him Hitler", it's literally the sort of thing that keeps happening right before a Night of Long Knives scenario"
aug 27, 2025, 12:47 pm • 17 1 • view
It reminds of the surreal period in the 00s where normies increasingly hated GW Bush but the media acted like he was above criticism. When the wind shifted it shifted *hard*. I believe the shift will be much bigger this time.
aug 27, 2025, 12:51 pm • 1 0 • view
Increasingly convinced that the very special boys and girls in the press are the dumbest chuds in the country
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe the American people aren’t as stupid as our beltway pundits think we are.
aug 27, 2025, 1:34 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s about efficiency, every city could use help stopping drug trafficking and gun violence but not picking up trash or aimlessly wandering national guard.
aug 27, 2025, 2:18 pm • 1 0 • view
We must continue to reach across the aisle although many of our colleagues have suffered from abruptly severed hands.
aug 27, 2025, 12:39 pm • 27 0 • view
BEEN SAYIN edroso.substack.com/p/speech-codes
aug 28, 2025, 1:13 am • 6 1 • view
it’s always 1984 or 1988 with them
aug 27, 2025, 12:52 pm • 34 0 • view
“willie horton ain’t goin’ away!” - eggy, probably
aug 27, 2025, 1:00 pm • 11 0 • view
And they say Trump's stuck in the 80s! I do think you're right though.
aug 27, 2025, 3:31 pm • 0 0 • view
“He won the popular vote, so”
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 2 0 • view
It is now the TFP, the Trump Fascist Party. I think we should to anyone who supports Trump and that include the GOP to what they really are, ugly fascists. Sad, but true.
aug 27, 2025, 12:54 pm • 4 0 • view
I don't understand why it can't be rebranded "The January 6 Party."
aug 27, 2025, 2:46 pm • 4 0 • view
I agree. Continuing to call it the Republican Party is a lie by this point. They have gone full fascist and don’t deserve the name of a once law-abiding party.
aug 27, 2025, 12:59 pm • 1 0 • view
Much like having a billion dollars, being a full-time pundit for more than 7 years seems to do literal brain damage.
aug 27, 2025, 2:43 pm • 1 0 • view
No pundit ever led a revolution.
aug 27, 2025, 4:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Why people still take them seriously is beyond me.
aug 27, 2025, 12:45 pm • 4 0 • view
Sadly, the default posture of the punditry is to respond to Trump, to play on his terms, not to respond to what the rest of us live and see daily. They and their content consumers can't see the forest for the trees. Have we hit bottom yet? This whole dynamic does not leave me feeling optimistic.
aug 27, 2025, 12:56 pm • 3 0 • view
🎯
aug 27, 2025, 2:43 pm • 1 0 • view
They have been polling nonsense about every presidential election since 2016 and they want us to forget that. When they can cast blame on Democrats for being wrong, it shifts the focus from their abysmal failures when it comes to reporting on elections.
aug 27, 2025, 1:06 pm • 1 0 • view
Maybe Dems should stop trying so hard on their messaging and just authentically communicate with their constituents like humans?
aug 27, 2025, 2:54 pm • 2 0 • view
*more Dems
aug 27, 2025, 2:54 pm • 2 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/scot...
aug 27, 2025, 2:16 pm • 3 0 • view
Commentators think it's D&D: "Oh, no, Republicans have +5 economy and +10 immigration, Dems are cooked unless they roll a +16 on compromise." Voters see it as boxing: "Hit him and keep hitting him until he loses."
aug 27, 2025, 1:05 pm • 17 2 • view
…but Luigi
aug 27, 2025, 4:39 pm • 1 0 • view
That 40% still support him is shocking. Pretty clear they're onboard for him doing absolutely anything, and that's alarming.
aug 27, 2025, 12:42 pm • 17 0 • view
That 40% is averaged out amongst political parties: the actual party-by-party breakdown will make you *very* depressed and I consider it a horrific misuse of statistics to hide actual facts
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 12 3 • view
You can convince people of just about anything especially if you're been pouring into them the idea that Urban Areas are crime ridden hellholes unlike your rural-suburbia where the actual statistical likelihood of getting murdered is double or triple the national average.
aug 27, 2025, 1:00 pm • 20 4 • view
Well, you have to convince them that the urban areas are even WORSE. Otherwise they might question what you're doing about their actual problems. Instead, they can believe that you're holding back this massive tide of urban murderers just waiting to get them.
aug 27, 2025, 3:46 pm • 3 1 • view
Oh that's simple: Since education is both something to avoid and be afeared of just pulling up the raw numbers is enough to do that. "There were 500 homicides in Chicago just last year! In a city with a population of 2.7 million! :quietly: (Which is 10 times that of St. Louis which had 150)"
aug 27, 2025, 4:05 pm • 4 0 • view
Yes it's not my country so maybe I mistaken but sitting at 40% is a few percentage points away from winning an election? He's higher than he was during his first term.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Trump received ~77m votes in 2024. There are about ~260m adults in the US. So he got 49% off total voters, but only 30% of all adults. Assuming the poll is covering all adults, not just eligible or likely voters, he doesn’t really have to worry until it gets into the low 30s.
aug 27, 2025, 4:48 pm • 1 0 • view
This is, of course, assuming he runs again, which he is not legally allowed to do. But what is considered “legal” has been changing pretty fast these days.
aug 27, 2025, 4:49 pm • 2 0 • view
Getting tough on crime is a dog whistle euphemism for cops murdering more people, mainly young men of color, for being on the street, or for being at home, as the case may be. This is what Police have always been. Those that had any integrity quit in their first 5 years. Rest are all Trump.
aug 27, 2025, 1:29 pm • 2 2 • view
📌
aug 27, 2025, 5:03 pm • 0 0 • view
It's absolutely infuriating. How is it that some people are paid that much to be this out of touch?
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 12 0 • view
I don’t get how an entire class of people whose ostensible job it is to understand these things gets it wrong every time. Genuinely how does such a systemic failure happen when the data that confirms they’re wrong is right in front of their faces
aug 27, 2025, 3:49 pm • 1 0 • view
But the fact 38% support this shit is UNBELIEVABLE!
aug 27, 2025, 4:12 pm • 2 0 • view
I find it appalling that even 40% approve of this babbling moron and his random hateful bullshit.
aug 27, 2025, 2:55 pm • 0 0 • view
38% base support (+2 for the orange turd) is an insanely high number… What have we become? Democrats need to do a deep introspection about what they have done wrong consistently for decades… and the solution is not to lower our standards, but to fix our blindsides and weaknesses. #resist
aug 28, 2025, 12:02 am • 0 0 • view
Their salary depends upon them not understanding it.
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 1 0 • view
You can learn a lot from overall approval. Those lost in the sauce will almost never disapprove of trump. But some of the people that hate him the most are those who are disillusioned from him. If you're reading this, remember, any number above 0% approval is too high.
aug 27, 2025, 6:42 pm • 3 0 • view
Any number above 0% approval for the republican party is too high. And for the AIPAC / corporate dems, any approval higher than 0% is too high. The only ones who should have high approval ratings are true leftists. That's the goal as far as approval ratings go
aug 27, 2025, 6:42 pm • 2 0 • view
clown
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 0 0 • view
Amen! And I need some reporters to start pushing back on all the lies- no one holds them accountable- it’s frustrating as shit.
aug 27, 2025, 9:24 pm • 0 0 • view
absolutely amazing to see how Fox News and the rest of the RWNJ noise machine keeps trump's floor at 40%, quite literally no. matter. what. a day-in, day-out victory for the North Korean-style propaganda network and it HAS to be dismantled
aug 27, 2025, 1:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Amen.
aug 27, 2025, 12:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Support for this dink should be in the basement.
aug 27, 2025, 2:55 pm • 0 0 • view
40% seems like a solid win when they have the will, means, and freedom to break laws and commit violence on their side and the other 60% do not.
aug 27, 2025, 1:22 pm • 0 0 • view
And the polls are reflecting the views of these stupid pundits already skewing things. Imagine the poll numbers if the pundits/media WEREN’T already running interference for the fascists
aug 27, 2025, 12:45 pm • 1 0 • view
Trump is taking people from their jobs and families in red states. the people having to do extra work aren't going going to be happy. the soldiers are going to go home and say what a waste of time it all was. Trump is actively hurting republicans and he wants to do more.
aug 27, 2025, 1:23 pm • 1 0 • view
About a third of Americans are authoritarians. They support fascism like Trump and his regime are rapidly imposing.
aug 27, 2025, 1:12 pm • 0 0 • view
they also have a clearer sense than most elected Dems apparently
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Especially those who’ve spent the past week telling liberals to stop using “woke language” if they want to build a coalition.
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 2 0 • view
You’ve given me some hope just as I was running out of it.
aug 27, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
💙💙💙 as usual. The orange dictator is full of shit. He’s not getting tough on crime. He’s getting tough on cities that oppose him and he’s trying to use fear and military troops to do it.
aug 27, 2025, 12:49 pm • 0 0 • view
One thing I still don’t understand about polling is the fact I just saw an article saying that according to the AP-NORC poll a slight majority approve of Trump’s handling of crime. Which horrified me. And then this poll says the exact opposite.
aug 27, 2025, 12:45 pm • 2 0 • view
Polling can depend on how things are worded and presented: "Do you support deploying the National Guard in DC?" is actually a different question than, "Do you agree with the President's views on crime?"
aug 27, 2025, 2:56 pm • 3 0 • view
Yeah I that makes sense, it makes it frustrating trying to piece together any actual data on public opinion.
aug 27, 2025, 2:59 pm • 0 0 • view
One way to interpret it is that deploying the National Guard is unpopular even with people who want to see a crackdown on crime.
aug 27, 2025, 3:07 pm • 3 0 • view
Political observers seem to be too insulated from consequences
aug 27, 2025, 12:59 pm • 0 0 • view
Would it be incorrect to suggest that we are actually now living in President Stephen Miller’s America?
aug 27, 2025, 12:50 pm • 2 0 • view
Stunning to think 38% of the USA think ripping National Guard members away from their families, communities, & work to have them perform litter patrol for Der fuher is a good use of tax dollars. Why not give college students a break on student loans for similar civic services? "Too woke"?
aug 27, 2025, 3:12 pm • 0 0 • view
40%approval is just too damn high. Beyond my ability to comprehend.
aug 27, 2025, 2:45 pm • 0 0 • view
I think it’s an indication that the professional political observers like what’s happening regardless of what the broader public thinks
aug 27, 2025, 1:00 pm • 1 0 • view
Clicks are up, visibility for trash articles probably through the roof. Authoritarianism is good for their business, until you get taken to a concentration camp or bombed in a hospital
aug 27, 2025, 1:37 pm • 0 0 • view
I was clearing out notifications on my phone the other day and it struck me that it’s like half Trump Related stories all day every day…
aug 27, 2025, 2:00 pm • 1 0 • view
I’m certainly glad it’s not higher, but 38% support is still a shameful number.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 9 0 • view
Most of us have a clearer sense of what’s happening than many elected politicians as well.
aug 27, 2025, 3:33 pm • 2 0 • view
📌
aug 27, 2025, 9:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Independents voted for president businessman to lower prices and they are mad he is doing the opposite.
aug 27, 2025, 1:07 pm • 0 0 • view
And that’s *DESPITE* legacy media doing its level best to downplay and both sides everything. Imagine what public opinion would be if there was a drum beat of clear, concise euphemism-free news going out every day?
aug 27, 2025, 3:32 pm • 0 0 • view
One thing is clear, politicians with little fear of re-election become complacent and self-dealing and corrupted. Repeal the 17th Amendment that facilitates Senators remaining in office for life.
aug 27, 2025, 2:49 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm not a professional politics opiner so I've been confused about why this is. But now I'm convinced it's because becoming a politics opiner in this day and age, given this particular media environment, selects for a certain type.
aug 27, 2025, 2:58 pm • 30 0 • view
Debate Club has broken containment.
aug 27, 2025, 3:03 pm • 8 0 • view
aug 27, 2025, 5:21 pm • 4 0 • view
If there's anything I've learned from polls, its that 32-38% of Americans are consistently pieces of shit.
aug 27, 2025, 2:15 pm • 4 0 • view
Right? It’s always that 38%, no matter what Trump does.
aug 27, 2025, 2:27 pm • 3 0 • view
That 38% support seems crazy to me. I wonder what it would look like if they filtered out Fox News viewers...
aug 28, 2025, 4:48 am • 0 0 • view
My MAGA friends are still loving him so I don’t know where the bottom is with them anymore. They are addicted to the whole premise of mega world, and they feel accepted by it. They would rather die or argue than to admit that they were wrong.
aug 27, 2025, 2:39 pm • 0 0 • view
It frankly feels like democrats in leadership are fine with how things are. You don’t see much or any meaningful resistance from them in regard to the authoritarian takeover.
aug 27, 2025, 3:45 pm • 0 0 • view
What's been the consequence for the pundits being wrong? Nothing, so far as I can tell. They keep making bad takes but they keep getting gigs, so why would they sharpen their skills?
aug 28, 2025, 4:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Professional political observers do not want to confront their role in people assuming Trump 2 would make it 2019 again while keeping their 2024 paycheck and job power. They should have said "Tariffs are a tax and if Trump does them, PRICES WILL RISE" and accurately reported Trump's feels on them.
aug 27, 2025, 1:30 pm • 26 1 • view
Nobody wanted the National Guard in American cities or their random Home Depot dudes being violently kidnapped by ICE, they wanted the roving MS-13 gangs Trump swore were there and the media backed up to Go Away. Likewise scary fake trans athletes leering at girls.
aug 27, 2025, 1:31 pm • 14 1 • view
A media that said "Trump still on one about price-raising tariffs, criminal gangs that don't exist and his whole weird trans obsession" would have infuriated Trump but probably moved some votes.
aug 27, 2025, 1:32 pm • 13 1 • view
The problem has never been opinion on Trump’s authoritarianism in a vacuum. The problem is voters don’t always weight those concerns as heavily as we might like. Which seems like something that might be especially amenable to opinion leadership in an off year, but what do I know.
aug 27, 2025, 1:35 pm • 0 0 • view
I like this referendum idea. A referendum would be a concrete way to give so many people who are opposed to Trump but don't know what to do a clear route to meaningful action.
aug 27, 2025, 1:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Yea why do you think he told Texas to find him 5 more seats... Orange clown knows how unpopular he is.. but he don't care at this point.
aug 27, 2025, 9:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Something is very wrong with 38-40% of Americans. The worst of America
aug 27, 2025, 2:51 pm • 2 0 • view
DC political observers:
aug 27, 2025, 1:18 pm • 0 0 • view
40%? 4 out of 10 of us need lobotomies.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 7 0 • view
That seems backwards, i think it's the 60% that need one, 40% clearly already had one.
aug 27, 2025, 1:25 pm • 2 0 • view
We have seen, since at least the Tea Party era (that's when I started noticing the consistent average percentages) that 25-40%) of people surveyed approve of the most extremis/fascistic actions/rhetoric in the US. it's fluctuated a small amount over the 17ish years.
aug 27, 2025, 1:17 pm • 3 0 • view
Actual headline: Nearly 40% of Americans will blindly support ANYTHING Trump does.
aug 27, 2025, 1:40 pm • 0 0 • view
How da fuq is #Krasnov still at 40% approval? It's goddamn sickening and infuriating that there is still 40% of the US that fully supports fascism and the right wing Cult of Villainy
aug 27, 2025, 5:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe "professional political observers" is a bloated class of parasitic and misguided hangers-on who are more concerned with maintaining their own power and privilege than with improving the lives of regular folk. Present company excluded, of course, sir.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Trump's approval rates are very much tied to people emotionally rejecting any admission of error in their own judgment. "I voted for this, so uh, sure, I'm fine with it."
aug 27, 2025, 5:54 pm • 1 0 • view
I read the new bio of Charles Sumner and there's a point in the 1850s where the voters are way out ahead on the issue of abolition and the pols struggle to catch up
aug 27, 2025, 2:12 pm • 0 0 • view
The cult is a minority, but they are still all on board with him.
aug 27, 2025, 11:19 pm • 0 0 • view
A lot of "professionals" are actively and consciously pivoting to be the captive opposition
aug 27, 2025, 4:40 pm • 2 0 • view
Guess they’re not bent on landing a book deal.
aug 27, 2025, 12:52 pm • 0 0 • view
The only thing left is for Trump to start destroying these poll makers, I’m surprised he hasn’t been attacking them more, especially ones connected with universities
aug 27, 2025, 2:31 pm • 0 0 • view
But…. But… *criiiiime*!
aug 27, 2025, 5:24 pm • 0 0 • view
The pundits are in collusion.
aug 27, 2025, 8:38 pm • 0 0 • view
Fox and other outlets keeping the rural masses dumb and blind.
aug 27, 2025, 4:40 pm • 2 0 • view
40% is still terrible
aug 27, 2025, 1:33 pm • 0 0 • view
🎯
aug 27, 2025, 2:45 pm • 0 0 • view
Surely you must be speaking about the clowns on Morning Joe
aug 27, 2025, 1:24 pm • 0 0 • view
I cannot believe nearly 40% of American support authoritarian moves.
aug 27, 2025, 1:36 pm • 0 0 • view
That was my response. "Just 38%?" My god, who are these monsters among us?
aug 27, 2025, 2:12 pm • 1 0 • view
It's the cult. His numbers rarely dip below the MAGA ceiling.
aug 27, 2025, 2:51 pm • 0 0 • view
It seems to me they want to inspire fear. There have been all these videos of people asking ICE agents: What’s your badge number? What authority are you here under? www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...
aug 27, 2025, 12:56 pm • 1 1 • view
I hope you're right!
aug 27, 2025, 12:46 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm amazed that so many--not so FEW-- are in favor of jackbooted thugs in our capitol city.
aug 27, 2025, 12:44 pm • 28 1 • view
I'm amazed that almost every day I see a statistic that most people are not in favor of the horror show that's unfolding every day, but then it just keeps getting worse.
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 10 1 • view
Because professional political "observers" don't want to be faced with the hard work of *doing something* about the fascist police state, about taking hard, clear stands against Trump and the GOP, don't want to risk getting uninvited to D.C. cocktail parties. You know, just like most elected Dems.
aug 27, 2025, 12:43 pm • 19 0 • view
Trump gets much lower and he’ll need a scuba tank to breathe.
aug 27, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
I feel like that approval number should be massively lower
aug 27, 2025, 1:07 pm • 8 0 • view
📌
aug 27, 2025, 1:26 pm • 0 0 • view
That’s a low fucking bar!
aug 27, 2025, 1:24 pm • 0 0 • view
They're doing a damn good job protecting the Washington Monument. Phew! It's safe!!
aug 28, 2025, 11:00 am • 0 0 • view
The ones on the right are paid by networks to support him and ones in the center and on left feel burned by the Americans choosing someone so unqualified and unfit again.
aug 27, 2025, 5:00 pm • 0 0 • view
But we must consider that Trump is truly concerned with crime in America's cities
aug 27, 2025, 10:50 pm • 0 0 • view
I can't be kind towards my fellow Americans, half of which could only improve the country if they were to die from a new contagion, leaving the survivors to learn from this mess they have enabled.
aug 28, 2025, 12:18 am • 0 0 • view
What’s funny is how conservative writers live in a completely alternate universe. They talk about the Democrats “playing into Trump’s hands” like these moves are popular. It’s amazing how the people at conservative pubs don’t have the pulse of any group of Americans, not even conservative ones
aug 27, 2025, 2:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Sounds like Trump trying to become a dictator is something an opposition party could exploit for political gain. Too bad we don't have a competent opposition party.
aug 27, 2025, 12:38 pm • 52 0 • view
They are actually voting for his nominees.
aug 27, 2025, 12:39 pm • 26 0 • view
Fucking disgusting that 40% think this is good.
aug 27, 2025, 2:35 pm • 0 0 • view
"Just" 38%??! That's appalling!
aug 28, 2025, 12:01 am • 0 0 • view
Picking up garbage everyday. I imagine these guys joined the NG to develop skills and education. They sure are getting one now. Next they will have them scrubbing down public restrooms and scrubbing the streets and gutters.
aug 27, 2025, 2:36 pm • 0 0 • view
Is it because they're not in chats with far right cooked tech bros?
aug 27, 2025, 7:57 pm • 1 0 • view
I hope those 38% get lethally armed troops in THEIR street, pointing guns at THEIR kids. They are human Trump.
aug 27, 2025, 1:42 pm • 0 0 • view
38% is a lot of ppl…and they dont approve it, don’t mean that they regret their vote …
aug 27, 2025, 2:52 pm • 0 0 • view
I agree, I think what is lacking in both parties though, is the consciousness of the real danger this poses. For me everyone seems still to be thinking this is a movie or a book or some Eastern country. An abstract concept just marginally touching one’s life.
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 2 0 • view
No one is mobilizing them
aug 27, 2025, 1:01 pm • 0 0 • view
I think this statement is true but I also think it's important not to understand it as some sort of acquittal of the median voter (who literally voted for this, albeit by a slim margin) but as an even harsher condemnation of "elites (derogatory)"
aug 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 0 0 • view
Policing DC! Got to love the wording. Policing sounds like being cops, while policing in the army also means picking up little. As we all know, Trump has the army doing both today. This makes you want to join badly!
aug 27, 2025, 4:02 pm • 0 0 • view
That, and there are far more Americans totally ok with clear authoritarianism then I had understood. Or maybe more correctly: “it can’t possibly be that bad, because my side is doing it”
aug 27, 2025, 2:40 pm • 0 0 • view
Shockingly high approval numbers from a nation that insists with a bullhorn that we are the land of the free...
aug 27, 2025, 5:09 pm • 0 0 • view
Sooo, that’s 62% don’t approve
aug 27, 2025, 5:44 pm • 0 0 • view
“Most professional political observers” appear to be in the pay of the oligarchs, or one of the two oligarchic political parties. Independent media is a breath of fresh air. Thank you!
aug 27, 2025, 5:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Seems like hiring a bunch of contrarians and credulous fools to do political analysis has given us a political analyst class that can't say the sky is blue. They sure can write about how fascinating it is that people think the sky is green, and really isn't that better than knowing the sky is blue?
aug 27, 2025, 1:00 pm • 0 0 • view
The professionals are: 1) often bought 2) listened to because they support the narrative set up by others who are bought 3) lowkey white supremacists who are ok with civil rights as long as some black person doesn’t get the job THEY wanted 4) still trying to protect their MAGA kin
aug 27, 2025, 1:30 pm • 0 0 • view