Trump touting strong economy
‘Turnaround’ not enough to boost approval rating
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump celebrated the strong surging economic numbers released Friday, appearing in the sun-kissed Rose Garden to claim credit for a humming economy.
“We’ve accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportions,” Trump said outside the White House, where he was joined by Vice President Mike Pence and flanked by members of his economic team. “Once again, we are the economic envy of the entire world.”
The president was responding to new growth numbers that show the U.S. economy soared in the April-June quarter to an annual growth rate of 4.1 percent — the fastest pace since 2014.
Yet Trump’s own numbers — for the public’s approval — remain unusually low for a president presiding over good times.
It’s the paradox of his presidency: “If it were anybody but Donald J. Trump, the approval numbers would be astronomical,” said Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster.
The disconnect reflects the current political
moment, dominated by a polarizing president focused on pleasing his supporters on the right while further alienating most Americans regardless of whether they’re pleased with his handling of the economy. And it’s making it hard to predict what message voters may send in November.
“Donald Trump is a nontraditional president and he has severed the traditional tie between economic wellbeing and presidential job approval,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant and pollster.
“People are not evaluating Donald Trump based on the state of the economy,” he added. “They’re evaluating him based on his conduct and behavior in office.”
The president’s approval rating is of significant concern to his party: Largely because of Trump, Republicans face more threatening political headwinds than is typical for the party in power ahead of November’s midterm elections.
For nearly his entire presidency, Trump’s approval rating hasn’t fluctuated much outside a sixpoint range between 38 percent and 44 percent. It was 41 percent Friday, according to the average of polling data by FiveThirtyEight, a website of statistical analyses, as the president stood on the South Lawn and credited Republicans’ tax cuts and his regulatory rollbacks and tariffs for the good fiscal news.
“If he did a lot more of what he did this morning in touting the strong economy, it would make it easier for Republican down-ballot candidates to win re-election or to be elected to open seats,” Ayres said. “There is a very good story to tell. But it’s hard to tell that story if the news is being drowned out by the latest controversy.”
Trump has been focused on an economic message this week. He defended his tariffs Thursday in Illinois and Iowa, where farmers have been hurt by retaliatory tariffs imposed by other CNN reporter barred from an event after asking questions he didn’t like; divisive rhetoric about immigration at rally-like appearances, while his administration struggled to meet a court deadline for reuniting migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border; plans to possibly yank security clearances from senior Obama and Bush administration officials who criticized him on television; and an ongoing drip of revelations related to criminal investigations of the president’s campaign and former associates.
Hart said Trump is penalized because his personal foibles, brash behavior and governing chaos are unrelenting.
Trump’s tweeting is “like antacid in the system,” said Hart, who has recently conducted focus groups in a number of swing states.
“People are looking for someone or something that will make it all calm down. It’s too much of a frenzy for
“People are not evaluating Donald Trump based on the state of the economy.” Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant and pollste
nations, appearing at a newly reopened steel plant near St. Louis as evidence his policies are bearing economic fruit.
But Trump’s week also included: Picking fights with what he calls “fake news,” including by having a people even if you’re 100 percent with Donald Trump,” Hart said. “People want more of a sense of regularity.”
Throughout his presidency, Trump’s tweeting and penchant for controversy have distracted from coverage of GOP accomplishments, including the tax cuts and the conservative re-making of the judiciary.
Many Republican consultants would prefer the president use his megaphone to amplify the economic message.
But Josh Holmes, a party strategist involved in efforts to maintain its Senate majority, said Trump’s focus on controversial cultural issues such as immigration are critical in motivating the party’s voters to turn out in November.
“The economy is still the core of Republican messaging, no matter what. It’s what gets you over the top to majority status,” Holmes said. “But you can’t start that conversation until you solidify your base.”
Trump’s hard-line position on immigration and his tweets smearing the special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference as a witch hunt “are very motivating” for the party’s base of conservative loyalists, Holmes said.
“They react to very different stimulus than the country as a whole.”