An enlightening analysis by pollsters John and Jim McLaughlin suggests that how voters view President Donald Trump six months into the job is largely influenced by which media they rely on.
If Fox and Newmax are the source, Trump is on a great run, scoring big wins. If it’s CNN and MSNBC, he is sinking under the weight of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
In their opinion piece for Newsmax, the pollsters said that the media-fed political divide has stalled Trump’s rise in polls.
They wrote, “despite legislative wins and economic improvements, Trump’s approval ratings face a ceiling.”
They gave two reasons:
- A deeply divided political landscape. American voters exist in two distinct political realities: pro-Trump and anti-Trump. Each camp consumes media within its own ideological echo chamber.
- Persistent media bias. The traditional media establishment continues to present a slanted, often hostile portrayal of the Trump presidency, regardless of the facts.
Take the direction of the nation as an example. They said that consumers of center-right media think things are fine, with 69% feeling that the country is headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, just 30% of those who consume liberal media agree.
In this week’s White House Report Card, our graders show exactly what the McLaughlins have found.
Democratic pollster John Zogby, in grading the week an “F,” said the Epstein scandal is dragging Trump down. “Glug” was his rating on his “Drowning Meter.” Conservative grader Jed Babbin, giving the president an A-minus, said the affair rates a big “meh,” and said Trump is getting a lot done, especially in calling out those who have long tried to undermine him, notably former President Barack Obama.
Jed Babbin
Grade: A-
President Donald Trump got the best news he’d received since Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the 2016 election. As proven by the newly-declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the whole Russia hoax was definitely the product of the Obama-Clinton gang.
The Russia hoax was created out of whole cloth, lies from beginning to end. It alleged that Trump was in league with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that by their collusion, Putin intended to tilt the election toward Trump. That was a huge lie. Putin wanted Hillary to be president (duh!) because she was vastly weaker than Trump and he could play her like a fiddle. There was no truth in the liberal hoax, nor in the congressional investigations and the special prosecutors.
It was all nonsense but had a profound slowing effect on Trump and his whole first term as president. What he needs now is like what Doc Holliday prescribed for Wyatt Earp as the good guys began to win in Tombstone. Trump needs a reckoning. It’s a word you should look up. Its meaning may surprise you.
There was lots of other news. Ukraine arms shipments have resumed. Congress went home rather than deal with the Jeffrey Epstein files. (If Trump had been in them anywhere, Biden would have leaked the files joyously.) Meh. Too much blather and too little substance.
John Zogby
Grade: F
We began the week with a statement from the brother of a convicted pedophile saying that his brother (Jeffrey Epstein) ended his friendship with future President Donald Trump because he was a “crook.” And it doesn’t get any better for Trump as the Epstein affair spreads.
He denied he sent a friendly birthday card to Epstein with a lewd cartoon, emphatically arguing that it could not have been him because he didn’t doodle. But we got to see that the president is actually quite a good doodler and some were auctioned off for charity.
Then we saw a flurry of pictures of the future president all smiles with Epstein and his “associate,” convicted child trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. For her part, Maxwell was deposed by Trump’s former attorney, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this week.
This movie is getting tiresome and the president and his toadies in Congress have ensured that it will be shown every day through September.
The president had a photo op with the chair of the Federal Reserve this week, chastising him for the costs of renovations to taxpayers — including one made five years ago. Fed chairs are supposed to be independent and presidents are not supposed to confront them — even suggesting that they are going to not renew them for another term.
But that is tame compared with Trump’s reaction to calls for release of all documents related to his relationship with Epstein. He also argued that his predecessor Barack Obama should be investigated for treason trying to pull off a coup against the newly elected Trump in 2017. He ordered the release of classified files dealing with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, much to the dismay of the King family.
But that is not all. His recently passed budget cut resettlement programs for Afghan refugees who helped U.S. troops as translators and guides and now threatens them with deportation and possible death. It will also immediately reduce the numbers of Americans with health insurance by 11 million, threatening the quality of healthcare they receive and the shuttering of rural and smaller hospitals/urgent care facilities.
Not a good presidential week, not a good man, and his attempts to divert attention appear to be the flailing of a desperate man. His poll numbers continue to tank. On my “Drowning Meter,” he is at “Glug.” It takes “Glug, Glug, Glug” to sink to the bottom.
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Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.