Trump could raise Approval ratings IF .....

haymarket said:

With the deal struck yesterday between Trump and Democrats on the debt ceiling extension and Harvey relief, Trump is playing a very dangerous game that could risk losing his far right support. And if he loses that support long term, he needs to pick up support in the middle. Trump can do two things which would almost guaranty him that support and see a ten point rise in this approval ratings.

1- Focus almost all of the upcoming tax reform on middle class earners .... people making between 50K and 200K a year with just a slight reduction in the corporate tax rate and no decrease for the upper income people. This would be very popular in middle America.

2- Craft a real infrastructure spending program that yields major improvements in roads and bridges and other things and creates jobs.

If Trump could do those two things, I suspect his approval rating would jump a good ten points.

Of course, it could lead to a great divide in the Republican party but Trump is famous for throwing people under the bus so why would this be any different?

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MTAtech said:

Tax-cuts, even on the middle-class, has always been a questionable stimulus plan -- although it's better than tax-cuts on the rich, which has no benefit to the overall economy. It's all about the effect of multipliers. Government direct spending has a bigger multiplier than a tax cut if consumers save a portion of their tax windfall. A tax cut targeted at poorer people may have a bigger impact on spending than one for the affluent, since poorer folk tend to spend a higher share of their income.

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Fletch said:

Poor people don't pay taxes

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Moderate Right said:

So now that Trump has "come out", showing his liberal side, all of a sudden you don't care about Russia hacking the election anymore, do you?

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Perotista said:

It might not lead to the great divide you think. I suspect most Trumpers love the man, not his policies. They didn't waiver one bit during the primaries when Trump would say one thing one day, the complete opposite the next and on the third day, deny saying anything at all. They also called Trump a populist, a nationalist, a nativist even. Almost everything but a conservative. Trump won them over because he was a fighter and promised to build a wall. A large segment of the GOP, Trumpers wanted a fighter. They perceived the Republican congress of being rolling over dogs and letting Obama have his way. I really doubt that Trump would ever lose their support no matter what he did or said.

I do think what you stated could induce independents to return to Trump. He has lost a good chunk of support he once had among independents. Nothing Trump could ever do would win over Democrats. They hate him as he defeated their queen.

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Moderate Right said:

So now that Trump has "come out", showing his liberal side, all of a sudden you don't care about Russia hacking the election anymore, do you?

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haymarket said:

Actually all Trump has done is to provide for a three month extension and nothing LIBERAL was adopted which changes any law or policy.

As to the hurricane aid, I assumed that was a bi-partisan position and neither liberal nor conservative.

And yes, I am still deeply interested in the Trump/Russian collision and Mueller investigation and am patiently awaiting the findings and actions we need to take on this matter of extreme national importance to our security and our democratic processes.

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imagep said:

I think a lot of them wanted an outsider with no political or governmental experience. I suppose they got what they wanted - someone with no clue of how government works and who is totally unqualified to be POTUS.

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Perotista said:

Yeah. A lot of folks were just plain tired of business as usual. Let's say more worried about the next election than America. Worried more about those folks who kept them in campaign cash like corporations, wall street, lobbyist, special interests, etc than this nation or her people. A lot of folks just wanted a change, not from one party to the other which just produces change around the edges of government, but real change.

Perhaps it boiled down to trust in government which there isn't much among the people at large. Gallup puts that trust in government doing what is right almost all or a fair amount of the time at 19%. Pew Research has it at 20%. Clinton represented that government as usual approach and lack of trust in it. Trump was unknown, he certainly did't represent business or government as usual.

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Moderate Right said:

Trump told Pelosi that he would sign a Dreamers bill if one made it to his desk.

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haymarket said:

Many got that same impression before he ever told her that. He clearly said he wanted Congress to deal with it.

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Moderate Right said:

So, what's the beef?

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Quote Originally Posted by Moderate Right View Post
So now that Trump has "come out", showing his liberal side, all of a sudden you don't care about Russia hacking the election anymore, do you?

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polgara said:

Greetings, Pero. :2wave:

I think that Trump represented "hope" that things would get better for them, and millions voted for that! The world elite, including many in this Country, want things to stay the same, because that benefits them, so Trump has become the "bad boy" who is trying to upset their apple cart, and we are seeing the results of the battle currently taking place, IMO. I don't believe the polls which show him losing his followers; that is fake news, IMO, since they are still sticking with him.. If anything, he might gain new followers if the plans he has for more jobs becoming available, to use one example, continues to happen. Time will tell.....

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Perotista said:

Howdy Pol. I read polls all the time, I go inside them and get the nitty gritty. Tons of useful information are inside the polls if one looks instead of just glancing at the horse race of approval numbers. Trump voters I would divide into two groups. Avid, enthusiastic supporters and those who voted for him as an anti Clinton vote. Not necessarily pro Trump, but anti Clinton.

The first group I would estimate at 30-35% of the total electorate. Those will never waiver from Trump. Trump in my opinion hasn't lost a single individual from the first group. His avid supporters. Where Trump has lost support is among independents. The lesser of two evil voters, voting for the least horrible candidate. From 48% down to 34%. Democrats never approved of Trump and never will.

But what is most interesting is when one compares issues, Trump's policies and what he has tried to do, independents come down just about the same today as they did in January. So it isn't the issues or policies that has caused Trump to lose their support. Polls show it is his persona, personality, his character. His unpresidential persona, obnoxious, name calling, temper tantrum throwing via twitter that has caused independents to desert him. Trump grates on these people and rubs them the wrong way.

I think a booming economy, infrastructure improvements, his immediate help of Hurricane Harvey and we'll see about Irma. Trump could recoup a lot of independent support he once had at the beginning. Trump hasn't lost any of avid supporters, it is independents, most who detested both candidates that has left him.

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Moderate Right said:

The left are already counting their chickens before they hatch, just as the did in the 2016 election. They have already put 2018 and 2020 in the D's column.

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Perotista said:

I would say if the midterm elections were held today, the Democrats would be very successful. But they are 14 months away and who knows what will transpire between now and then. When it comes to elections, timing is everything. All it takes is one major unforeseen event to turn an election on its ear.

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Moderate Right said:

I'm thinking that Trump has given up on the Republican congress actually accomplishing anything and now he's starting to court deals with Democrats. I'm not really sure how that would play out in 2018 and beyond.

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Perotista said:

Trump hasn't helped his cause with the GOP congress picking feuds with McConnell, McCain, Murkowski, Ryan and others. If Trump think Democrats in congress will help him, he better be prepared to go with an Democratic agenda. As for next year's midterms, as of today it look real good for the Democrats. But at this time in 2009, it also look pretty good for the Democrats and they lost 63 seats in the house. 2012 looked great for the Republicans at the end of 2011, then something happened which I am still at a loss to explain. For no apparent reason, the outlook for 2012 shifted from favoring the Republicans to favoring the Democrats.

This far out, it is nothing more than a crap shoot to forecast what will happen next year. Now that I don't enjoy doing just that.

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Moderate Right said:

Yep. I still can't stop laughing though at all the lefties who already have their chickens counted. It was just one year ago that lefties were laughing all over the place at Trump's nomination and declaring that the Republican party was gone forever.

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Perotista said:

Laughing is a game one has to be careful playing. The way I look at last year was the Republicans tried giving the White House to the Democrats on a silver platter by nominating Trump. But the Democrat threw that silver platter right back in the Republican's face by nominating Hillary Clinton. There has never in the history of presidential elections been two more disliked presidential candidates by America as a whole. At least since FDR when Gallup and Pew Research started keeping track of these things.

I personally believe almost any other Democrat, alive or dead would have beat Trump by 10-15 points. I also believe almost any other Republican would have drubbed Hillary by the same amount. Both parties have lost their more moderate factions, the center, center left and center right has become independents, left both parties. The Democratic Party affiliation is at an all time low at 28% if Gallup is right. This is the same party that once was known as the big tent party. Hitting 51% of the total electorate once during FDR, once during JFK and once during LBJ. What a drop from that high to 28%. The GOP since FDR hit a low of 21% of the electorate during Nixon's resignation to a high of 33% during Eisenhower and again during Reagan. But mostly have stayed in the mid to upper 20's since FDR.

By contrast independents have risen from 18% during FDR and Truman to 43% today. Now independents have no say in whom the two major parties nominate unless you live in an open primary state. Hence they gave us Trump and Clinton which according to Gallup 54% of all independents disliked both of them.

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haymarket said:

With the deal struck yesterday between Trump and Democrats on the debt ceiling extension and Harvey relief, Trump is playing a very dangerous game that could risk losing his far right support. And if he loses that support long term, he needs to pick up support in the middle. Trump can do two things which would almost guaranty him that support and see a ten point rise in this approval ratings.

1- Focus almost all of the upcoming tax reform on middle class earners .... people making between 50K and 200K a year with just a slight reduction in the corporate tax rate and no decrease for the upper income people. This would be very popular in middle America.

2- Craft a real infrastructure spending program that yields major improvements in roads and bridges and other things and creates jobs.

If Trump could do those two things, I suspect his approval rating would jump a good ten points.

Of course, it could lead to a great divide in the Republican party but Trump is famous for throwing people under the bus so why would this be any different?

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Moderate Right said:

Great analysis. Both sides make the mistake of thinking that the reason they lost was because they didn't get out the vote. They seem totally oblivious to the fact that both parties are getting smaller and smaller and the independents are getting larger and larger. I, like many other independents, feel more and more like there is no party that represents us so that our only option always seems to be voting for the lesser of two evils. 2016 was the culmination of that process. Both Democrats and Republicans have the system rigged so that only one of the two of them can win. The only way out of this box is to have more and more independents win at the House and Senate levels. An Independent will never be president as long as Republicans and Democrats own the other branches of government.

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code1211 said:

By reducing the Corporate tax to 15%, corporations would be attracted to the USA and therefore need more workers and this would increase wage rates, benefits and all related compensation for workers. Reducing the Corporate tax would, in effect, be an increase in wage rates to the middle class.

The whole point of the tax reform that Trump recommends is to reduce the social engineering aspects of the tax code. Taxes are an economic necessity. There is no logical justification, absent political parties and political pay-offs, for taxes to be a social engineering tool.

One approach recommended by Trump is for a trillion dollar infrastructure improvement involving $137 billion in tax incentives to unlock one trillion in private investment. Either way, using public or private funding, the total trillion dollar expenditure is made, but under Trump's approach, the tax bill is lower. Lower taxes and getting the same result for less cost sounds good. Also, there is no such thing as government paid cost overruns if the costs are paid by the private sector.

Trump?s infrastructure plan: What we know | TheHill

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