Can Anything Change Americans’ Minds About Trump?

Ezra Klein: “On August 27, 2019, President Trump held a 41.3% approval rating and a 51.2% disapproval rating… During the 365 days that followed, Trump became the third president impeached by the House of Representatives; America assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani; more than 200,000 Americans died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus; the unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 10.2%; the US banned incoming travel from Europe, China, and Brazil; an estimated 12 million people lost health insurance coverage; Trump pardoned Roger Stone, who was facing jail time for dirty tricks on the president’s behalf; and George Floyd’s murder sparked a nationwide movement protesting for racial justice — to which Trump responded by tear-gassing demonstrators in Lafayette Park so he could take a photograph holding a Bible.”

“That is, of course, a bitterly incomplete list of a grimly consequential year in American history. But you’d never know it simply by following Trump’s poll numbers. On August 27, 2020 — one year later, and the day Trump used the White House as a backdrop for his convention speech — FiveThirtyEight had Trump at 42.2% approval and 54.3% disapproval. Everything had happened, and politically, nothing had mattered. Or, at the least, not much had changed.”