Donald Trump continues to have a low favorability score among Americans, new polling shows, despite being the likely Republican nominee after winning the lion’s share of primaries and seeing off his only remaining rival.
An ABC News/Ipsos survey of 536 U.S. adults, conducted between March 8-9, found that 29 percent have a favorable view of the former president compared to 59 percent who view him unfavorably.
It came after Trump secured all but one of the primaries on Super Tuesday—giving him 1,075 out of 1,215 delegates he needs to become the presumptive Republican nominee—which prompted former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley to drop out of the race to leave him unopposed. Primaries being held on Tuesday could push Trump over the line.
Trump’s popularity has remained largely unchanged since last summer. In similar polls conducted last year, which have a margin of error of 4.5 percent either way, he has hovered around a 30 percent favorability rating.
In my opinion this is flawed logic. Not voting doesn’t accomplish any of the things you want, on the contrary it plays into goals of parties because they want voter apathy – the less people voting the easier it is for an unpopular candidate to win. I’m definitely not voting for someone I like, I’m voting against the person I think will destroy democracy (and I similarly hate that this is the set of options we are given – no one would have picked these candidates).
I can’t argue with that logic, except that it relies on a false premise of what I want from the election and an unrealistic understanding of just how little influence I can have on it as a citizen of a non-swing state.
I don’t want to see either of the major parties in the white house. Logic suggests that I should make an accelerationist vote for Trump, as his presidency would no doubt hasten the inevitable collapse of the American Empire, or at least its current political establishment. But I can’t vote for Trump for the same reason that I can’t vote for Biden, the active support for genocide.
I also see voting “against” as a corruption of the principles of democracy. Elections aren’t a process by which leaders are selected, that’s merely a secondary effect. The purpose of elections is to legitimize the State, a reification of the “implied consent of the governed” that entitles a government to act with authority. But I see our current government as fundamentally illegitimate (as evidenced by our abysmal voter turnout figures), and voting against the worst candidate is still placing a vote of confidence in the government itself.
So, until there’s an option that doesn’t want to arm rogue states in the middle east, I’ll just save myself some time on voting day.
This is a terrible gamble and one you are not likely to win. You think things are almost as bad as they can get, that we’re close to the brink of some glorious revolution. We are not. Things can get SO MUCH worse. The amount of misery can increase exponentially. Take a minute to process that word, “exponentially”. As bad as it is now, it can get twice as bad. And then twice as bad as that, which is already worse than you’re capable of imagining. But we’re not nearly done yet. We have barely gotten started on our terrible journey. The depths of misery are deeper than the Mariana Trench. We have a loooooooong way to go.
It’s not a path worth pursuing unless “things getting worse” is your desired ends, rather than just a means to an end. You will be dead (and likely not of old age) before things get bad enough to reach a tipping point.
The better path, the path involving less human suffering, is the slow and steady march of progress. This path may not excite the minds of heady teenagers, but it WORKS.
I’m not happy about it either, but I predicted Trump would win 2024 back in 2018 when the DNC pulled their shenanigans against Bernie and nothing that’s happened since then suggests a change in course.
America isn’t a Democracy, it merely pretends it isn’t an oligarchy.
Like hell you’re not. This mindset of yours very coincidentally requires absolutely no action on your part. That’s what you’re happy about.
You’re not evil, you’re just lazy and trying to justify it.
My state has universal mail-in voting, it literally requires no effort.
Pretend I’m happy and lazy if you want, I’ll be over here making plans to GTFO the USA.
Coward
One seems to presume that I would care how some rando on the internet wants to judge my character when my right to continue existing as a trans person is under active threat by my own government…
The “Last Days of the Weimar Republic” vibe has never been stronger.
Can’t argue with any of your points – I can only commiserate with the way you feel as I share a lot of the same sentiments. I appreciate the open candor and willingness to have a dialogue about this!
Likewise! I love to argue about politics but so many people just get angry when presented with a different perspective. The occasional chat like this is such a treat. _