What did Trump do today?
He bragged about a 9% approval rating.
On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump famously singled out a black attendee at one of his campaign rallies, and shouted, "Look at my African-American over there!" That man, Gregory Cheadle, announced today that he was leaving the Republican Party, citing Trump's racism and "pro-white agenda."
Cheadle added, "President Trump is a rich guy who is mired in white privilege to the extreme. Republicans are too sheepish to call him out on anything and they are afraid of losing their positions and losing any power themselves.”
Asked about it by reporters today, Trump claimed he didn't know who Cheadle was, but said, “We have tremendous African American support. I would say I’m at my all-time high. I don’t think I’ve ever had the support that I’ve had now. I think I’m going to do very well with African Americans. African American support has been the best we’ve had."
In a CNN poll released this week, Trump's approval rating among African-Americans was at 9%. His disapproval was at 86%. This tracks a Gallup poll from August that had 8% of black Americans approving of his performance.
For context, Trump is also underwater on his approval/disapproval spread among all Americans (-16%) nonwhites (-47%), all women (-29%), all men (-4%), Hispanics (-38%), people aged 18-34 (-34%), people aged 35-49 (-15%), people aged 50-64 (-3%), people older than 65 (-15%), people in households making less than $50,000 per year (-29%), people in households making more than $50,000 per year (-9%), people who didn't graduate from college (-9%), people who did graduate from college (-31%), and independents (-23%).
Cheadle added, "President Trump is a rich guy who is mired in white privilege to the extreme. Republicans are too sheepish to call him out on anything and they are afraid of losing their positions and losing any power themselves.”
Asked about it by reporters today, Trump claimed he didn't know who Cheadle was, but said, “We have tremendous African American support. I would say I’m at my all-time high. I don’t think I’ve ever had the support that I’ve had now. I think I’m going to do very well with African Americans. African American support has been the best we’ve had."
In a CNN poll released this week, Trump's approval rating among African-Americans was at 9%. His disapproval was at 86%. This tracks a Gallup poll from August that had 8% of black Americans approving of his performance.
For context, Trump is also underwater on his approval/disapproval spread among all Americans (-16%) nonwhites (-47%), all women (-29%), all men (-4%), Hispanics (-38%), people aged 18-34 (-34%), people aged 35-49 (-15%), people aged 50-64 (-3%), people older than 65 (-15%), people in households making less than $50,000 per year (-29%), people in households making more than $50,000 per year (-9%), people who didn't graduate from college (-9%), people who did graduate from college (-31%), and independents (-23%).
Why does this matter?
- Saying you're popular doesn't automatically make it true.
- 9% approval is not "tremendous."