Approval/Disapproval Polls

[mpaer]

The scary thing is Dems standing in polls is likely worse

 

[donbosco]

And Grover Norquist Smiles.

 

[HintonJamesHeel]

The scary thing is Dems standing in polls is likely worse

Polls in 2025 aren’t a good indicator of election results. You can use them to get a sense of how public perceives an issue but pollsters are generally lost on elections.

 

[lawtig02]

Polls in 2025 aren’t a good indicator of election results. You can use them to get a sense of how public perceives an issue but pollsters are generally lost on elections.

Agree with respect to opinion polls. Election polls are a whole different animal. They're also shaky these days, but I absolutely agree opinion polls are not very useful anymore to predict election results.

 

[heelinhell]

Agree with respect to opinion polls. Election polls are a whole different animal. They're also shaky these days, but I absolutely agree opinion polls are not very useful anymore to predict election results.

I agree that opinion polls are not useful in predicting election results, but are election polls much better ?

I view opinion polls as the daily pulse of the nation. We have an election less than 18 months away, and a beginning campaign season less than 6 months away ?

I will be interested to see what the pulse of the nation is in October

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[heelinhell]

That is shocking !

85% were proud to be an American in 2013 when we had a Marxist radical president who was born in Africa and not even a legit American citizen ?

And only 58% are proud to be an American when we have perhaps the greatest president in American history ?

This makes no sense. Can one of our MAGA board posters explain this ?

calla ? ram ? dogwood? HY ? riversheel ?

 

[lawtig02]

That is shocking !

85% were proud to be an American in 2013 when we had a Marxist radical president who was born in Africa and not even a legit American citizen ?

And only 58% are proud to be an American when we have perhaps the greatest president in American history ?

This makes no sense. Can one of our MAGA board posters explain this ?

calla ? ram ? dogwood? HY ? riversheel ?

I'm going to be an optimist and say this is a low water mark. 2028 will be Gettysburg 2.0. Trump will go down in history, like John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis, as the man who ALMOST tore this country apart. But we can get back to those halcyon Obama days. We may need another 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment equivalent, but we'll get there.

 

[Paine]

Seems like this shift is mostly about which part of Gen Z is aging into politics. Older Gen Z, like myself, came of age during the Trump shock in 2016. Our politics formed in opposition to that, often leaning liberal or progressive, with some memory of Obama and the emergence of Bernie.

But younger Gen Z entered political consciousness during COVID. What they saw from “liberalism” was lockdowns, school closures, and social media mobs. They don’t remember the hope-and-change stuff. For them, liberalism looks more like cancel culture and elite scolding. So the right feels like rebellion.

That said, their ideology is shallow. It’s not hardened conservatism, it’s more like anti-institutional skepticism. If Democrats got serious about material issues and stopped talking down to people, a lot of these kids could swing back fast.

 

[CFordUNC]

Seems like this shift is mostly about which part of Gen Z is aging into politics. Older Gen Z, like myself, came of age during the Trump shock in 2016. Our politics formed in opposition to that, often leaning liberal or progressive, with some memory of Obama and the emergence of Bernie.

But younger Gen Z entered political consciousness during COVID. What they saw from “liberalism” was lockdowns, school closures, and social media mobs. They don’t remember the hope-and-change stuff. For them, liberalism looks more like cancel culture and elite scolding. So the right feels like rebellion.

I tend to think a lot of this is correct, but the lockdowns all happened under the Trump 1.0 administration, right? The only thing that Democratic leaders erred on as it pertains to lockdowns/closures, IMO, is keeping schools closed for *too* long.

 

[CFordUNC]

 

[Paine]

I tend to think a lot of this is correct, but the lockdowns all happened under the Trump 1.0 administration, right? The only thing that Democratic leaders erred on as it pertains to lockdowns/closures, IMO, is keeping schools closed for *too* long.

Yeah, the lockdowns began under Trump, but they quickly became left-coded in the broader culture. It was Democratic governors, public health officials, and liberal media that championed the longest restrictions. Even if the intent was public safety, the political valence that stuck, especially for younger Gen Z, was that liberals were the face of lockdowns, school closures, and speech policing.

 

[CFordUNC]

Yeah, the lockdowns began under Trump, but they quickly became left-coded in the broader culture. It was Democratic governors, public health officials, and liberal media that championed the longest restrictions. Even if the intent was public safety, the political valence that stuck, especially for younger Gen Z, was that liberals were the face of lockdowns, school closures, and speech policing.

Got it. Yeah, that makes sense now that I think back.

 

[Paine]

Got it. Yeah, that makes sense now that I think back.

DeSantis gets a lot of (deserved) ridicule, but one thing he did well, purely as a political move, was branding Florida as the anti-lockdown state. That landed with a lot of people.

Personally, I hated school closures, but I understood why they happened. Teachers’ unions had valid concerns, and the public health rationale was real. But at a human level, people were frustrated. Everyone wanted out.

For younger Gen Z, high schoolers at the time, the whole era left a deep impression.

 

[finesse]

It's getting tiring being held guilty for the younger generations' misconceptions. It's not like we did anything to hide the facts. At some time, for their own benefit so they can recognize things like this if it threatens in the future, take the time to look where you're heading.

It killed me in 2016, that no matter how loud some of us yelled, people of all ages both bought the shit the 'pubs were selling for Trump and against Clinton and more importantly ignored what was clearly going to happen with the Supreme Court. When Obama's nomination to SCOTUS got squashed earlier than any others, the writing was on the wall. Damn a bunch of fools who put principle over practical when the danger is so clear.

 

[CFordUNC]

DeSantis gets a lot of (deserved) ridicule, but one thing he did well, purely as a political move, was branding Florida as the anti-lockdown state. That landed with a lot of people.

Personally, I hated school closures, but I understood why they happened. Teachers’ unions had valid concerns, and the public health rationale was real. But at a human level, people were frustrated. Everyone wanted out.

For younger Gen Z, high schoolers at the time, the whole era left a deep impression.

Totally agree with all of that. Great points

 

[superrific]

Also, when kids weren't in school, they were home absorbing extremist internet content.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Gee, I wonder why. I'm sure that in MAGA minds it's somehow all the fault of liberals though. People aren't patriotic because we have masked thugs literally snatching people off the streets and putting them in detention camps, including pregnant mothers who are allowed to lose their baby and kids with cancer, or we're literally witnessing a total breakdown of checks and balances and separation of powers before our very eyes, or people losing their jobs and benefits to give bigger tax cuts to billionaires, the cause has got to be radical leftist teachers and professors brainwashing students and turning them into woke, America-hating Marxists!

 

[wmheel1287]

Totally agree with all of that. Great points

They are great points, but I swear I get tired of being sandwiched between these generations that will not stop whining about how hard they had/have it. Our parents (and older) think we owe them the world. The younger set thinks we owe them the world. Meanwhile, we just got locked in the house and learned how to make flamethrowers with aquanet while mom and dad went out and partied.