Oct. 3rd, 2019
Trump and Public Opinion
Oct. 3rd, 2019 02:46 pmI've gotten the impression that there are folks on my reading list who feel like Trump's fall is essentially inevitable at this point. Like it's just a matter of time. I think that's absolutely wrong.
Admittedly, I don't know politics well enough to offer analysis with authority, but not everyone reacts to the news objectively. (I certainly don't, though I like to think my conclusions are based objectively on my underlying values.) There are plenty of people who don't believe that Trump's actions are all that remarkable or unusual. One of my sources of news and analysis is the statistics-driven FiveThirtyEight. I'm going to be skeptical of all of this craziness leading to any chance of the senate convicting until independents are polling favor of impeachment by 60, maybe 70, percent. Here's an up-to-the-hour chart of public opinion on the topic. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/do-americans-support-impeaching-president-trump/
The media echo-chamber has more openings in it than a lot of folks realize; my partner, a media and journalism scientist, has shown me that. But worse than an echo chamber where people never hear opposing ideas is what we actually have; a lot of people who do hear those opposing ideas and just dismiss them out of hand.
I've really lost a lot of faith in the effectiveness of the political system that underlies my country. It honestly feels to me like it doesn't matter who's running for an office; Republicans will vote for the Republican and Democrats will vote for the Democrat or refuse to vote as a protest. The actual candidate hardly matters; that's how we got Trump and why it barely matters how vile a human being he is and how worthless a leader he's been.
Admittedly, I don't know politics well enough to offer analysis with authority, but not everyone reacts to the news objectively. (I certainly don't, though I like to think my conclusions are based objectively on my underlying values.) There are plenty of people who don't believe that Trump's actions are all that remarkable or unusual. One of my sources of news and analysis is the statistics-driven FiveThirtyEight. I'm going to be skeptical of all of this craziness leading to any chance of the senate convicting until independents are polling favor of impeachment by 60, maybe 70, percent. Here's an up-to-the-hour chart of public opinion on the topic. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/do-americans-support-impeaching-president-trump/
The media echo-chamber has more openings in it than a lot of folks realize; my partner, a media and journalism scientist, has shown me that. But worse than an echo chamber where people never hear opposing ideas is what we actually have; a lot of people who do hear those opposing ideas and just dismiss them out of hand.
I've really lost a lot of faith in the effectiveness of the political system that underlies my country. It honestly feels to me like it doesn't matter who's running for an office; Republicans will vote for the Republican and Democrats will vote for the Democrat or refuse to vote as a protest. The actual candidate hardly matters; that's how we got Trump and why it barely matters how vile a human being he is and how worthless a leader he's been.