Why presidential candidates (like Trump) campaign as isolationists but (like Trump) govern as hawks

When President Trump bombed Syria last week, many observers were surprised. Trump campaigned on an isolationist “America First” foreign policy. In a series of now-famous tweets, Trump had specifically warned President Barack Obama against military intervention in Syria. … And yet before his first three months were up, he did […] Read more »

The Age Gap in the Age of Trump

Ron Brownstein has a new piece in The Atlantic interrogating Donald Trump’s support—or lack thereof—and what it might mean for Democrats. It contains some eye-popping numbers, such as the huge differential swings among white Millennials with and without college degrees. Brownstein also notes Trump’s very low approval ratings among 18 […] Read more »

The net effect of Trump’s speech will probably be a slight, fleeting uptick in his approval

… The question for Trump is less about the effect of one night’s speech and more about whether he can turn around his exceptionally low approval ratings. In Gallup’s most recent weekly average, Trump was at 42 percent — up slightly from recent weeks but still well below other new […] Read more »

Trump’s Pre-Inauguration Favorables Remain Historically Low

President-elect Donald Trump approaches Inauguration Day with a significantly lower favorable rating than his three immediate predecessors received when they were presidents-elect. Trump’s 40% favorable rating is roughly half of what Barack Obama enjoyed before his inauguration in 2009 (78%) and is much lower than the pre-inaugural ratings for George […] Read more »