Poll: Trump is as strongly disliked now as Nixon was before he resigned

[DemocratSinceBirth]

What's the big idea: Trump has, throughout his first term, maintained a low but fairly steady approval rating. He's also had a high disapproval rating. Because Trump's ratings have remained in stasis relative to other presidents, a number have "caught up" to Trump's unpopularity at this point in their presidency. Put another way: Trump is no longer clearly the least popular president at this point in his presidency.
What still makes Trump unique though is the amount of intensity his detractors have for him. You might say many strongly dislike him. The excellent, pretty good, only fair and poor scale allows us to get at that because it's been asked for every president since President John Kennedy.
Trump is as strongly disliked as President Richard Nixon was when he resigned the presidency 44 years ago this week. Back then, 45% of people said Nixon was doing a poor job as president in a Harris poll.

...

The intensity of the disapproval for Trump has translated to a significant enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans in midterm polling and special elections. It could drive Democrats to their greatest House seat gain in a midterm since the last time a Republican president had such a high poor rating in that midterm year. That of course was in 1974.

...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/11/politics/poll-of-the-week-trump-nixon/index.html

[lindysalsagal]

1. I doubt anyone hated nixon a fraction as much as we all hate 45.

All nixon did was erase a tape.

[unblock]

4. Plenty of people certainly hated Nixon intensely

And he did vastly more than erase a tape. Not only in watergate. He also claimed to have a secret plan to end the Vietnam war, sabotaged negotiations, then expanded the war into Cambodia.

The main difference is that Nixon was a far more complicated person and a very mixed bag in terms of policies, whereas Donnie as without any redeeming value.

[Garrett78]

2. I made a post yesterday that speaks to this:

Trump's approval rating has been remarkably steady. Far steadier than other presidents, which I think is a direct result of his following being so cult-like. He has a relatively low ceiling (meaning a strong economy doesn't give him a bump like it would for predecessors), but he also has a floor that's probably not much lower than where he's been sitting for the last 19 months.

There's no doubt that the opposition to Trump is very intense, which is good. And the enthusiasm gap is promising, though who knows what Russia has up their sleeve. Still, Trump's steady, cultish following is absolutely infuriating.

[Solly Mack]

3. "Strongly dislike" doesn't really say it though.

He is someone that I have come to execrate.


Loathe. Hate. Despise. Abhor. Pick another word because "strongly dislike" simply doesn't come close.

[unblock]

6. He has the constituency he wanted. He told everyone else to f*ck off.

[Solly Mack]

7. That's true.

[Vinca]

5. Having lived through Watergate, there is no comparison.

The current investigation makes the Nixon crimes seem like pranks and Nixon, himself, seem like a third rate criminal enabled by booze. Trump is closer to treason than anything else and his entire life has been based on fraud, deceit and who knows what else for the sole purpose of feeding his ego and padding his bank accounts . . . wherever they are. The fool should have been arrested for money laundering back in his casino days.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I get burned a lot for this but I think Trump is sui generis & a fundamentally rotten human being.

He is mean for mean's sake. No other president has been so lacking in basic humanity.

[Vinca]

10. I totally agree. Nixon, believe it or not, had a heart. As I've posted once before, long after

he left office he turned up at a small hospital in Vermont to visit the dying former Senator George Aiken. It made the local papers although I don't think he sought them out. He just made his visit and left.

[Turbineguy]

9. Nixon was

a Gentleman and a Scholar compared to trump.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Two funny anecdotes about Nixon

He played the romantic lead in a school play and the audience laughed when kissed the female romantic lead, poor guy.

He was playing golf with Ike and struggling. Ike told Nixon he was a big strong boy and could play well if he tried, poor guy.