| | | | Trump is more popular than he has ever been before |  | | Donald Trump is the only president in modern history to never crack 50% job approval in Gallup's weekly tracking poll of how Americans perceive the job that the president is doing.
But in the latest Gallup numbers, Trump is at 46% approval -- the highest mark he has reached in more than two years as President.
Yes, more people still disapprove of the job Trump is doing (50%) than approve of it. And, yes, again, Trump has come close to 46% approval before -- he got to 45% in June 2018 and in January 2017. And, yes, for a third time, there is no meaningful statistical difference between 45% approval and 46% approval.
But, still! This is Donald Trump we are talking about. A man who has struggled for much of his presidency to even win the approval of 40% of Americans for the job he is doing. Just look at Trump's week-by-week performance in Gallup. Not good!
What explains Trump's upward trajectory? Likely a series of good economic numbers -- led by 3.2% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019. (Worth noting: The Gallup poll was out of the field by April 30, meaning that the gangbusters April jobs report isn't even factored into Trump's numbers.)
Dig into the numbers and you see something very interesting. Trump's gains of late are not, as you might expect, from Republicans. Nine in 10 Republicans backed Trump in March, the same number who did so in April. It's among Democrats where Trump's job approval has improved the most month-to-month; just 4% approved of the job he was doing in March compared to 10% who said the same in April. Independents went from 33% job approval for Trump in March to 39% in April.
Obviously, Trump's gains of late come even as special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his report into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the entire 448-page behemoth, with some redactions, has been released to the public. The report's finding -- no provable criminal conspiracy with the Russians by anyone within the Trump campaign, no recommendation on whether to charge Trump with obstruction of justice -- remain a vigorously debated subject but don't seem to have adversely affected how people perceive Trump to be doing his job.
All of which seems to prove the point White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney made last week: "People will vote for somebody they don't like if they think it's good for them."
The Point: The more the strong economy is front and center, the better for Trump. Now, all he needs to do is get out of his own way -- which is easier said than done.
-- Chris | | "We know you will serve with the integrity, loyalty, honor, courage and an unbreakable will to win, win, win. We love that sound, don't we?"
-- President Donald Trump praising the United States military. Trump also announced he is looking at creating a waiver so athletes who went to a service academy can serve in the military after they play professionally. | | | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is gaming out a potential -- if pessimistic -- 2020 election outcome.
Pelosi's using the possibility that Trump would contest a close election result to help motivate Democrats going into the next presidential election, and encouraging them to stick to the party's centrist message. "If we win by four seats, by a thousand votes each, he's not going to respect the election. He would challenge each of the races; he would say you can't seat these people," Pelosi told the New York Times of her thinking in 2018.
"We had to win," Pelosi added. "Imagine if we hadn't won -- oh, don't even imagine. So, as we go forward, we have to have the same approach." Chris has more on what happens if Trump refuses to admit that he lost. | | Is Joe Biden just Hillary Clinton redux?
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Tom Sietsema's Spring Dining Guide is here!! | | | NBD: Just Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) covering "All Along the Watchtower." | | The FBI has honored Tennessee native Dolly Parton for her foundation's work helping families rebuild after devastating wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016.
"After the Gatlinburg wildfires, Sevier County native Dolly Parton decided to help her hometown neighbors who had lost everything," the FBI said on its website. "Parton and the Dollywood Foundation provided $10,000 to each of 900 families. The donations brought renewed hope to a community devastated by the worst natural disaster in Tennessee history."
Parton, in turn, thanked the FBI for the recognition "because there's no higher calling than your mission to protect and serve us."
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LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST | | Joe Biden: Has name-dropped "my buddy" Barack Obama while on the stump in South Carolina this weekend.
Kamala Harris: Is pushing back on the "electability" criticism that can be used against candidates who aren't white men.
Cory Booker: Has rolled out a "sweeping" but "simple" gun violence protection plan.
Bernie Sanders: Has rolled out a plan to boost rural farmers by holding agribusiness and factory farms accountable.
Donald Trump: Campaign officials for the President are rolling out a bundler program at Trump Hotel in Washington on Tuesday to entice high-dollar donors who sat out 2016. | | | | | | |
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