The stock market (S&P 500 index) was up again today, for the sixth trading session in a row. It’s not far from breakeven for the month of April and it’s up 8.7 percent for the past 12 months. Unfortunately for the media, that data undermines the dominant narrative. But is the bad news getting through?
Byron York of the Washington Examiner posted on Twitter (X) this morning about the first 100 days,
At 100 days–yes, Trump’s job approval rating is down, somewhere in mid-40s. But are there any other polling measures for the 100 days? How about direction of the country? Far more believe country is going in right direction now than one year ago.
Good point. Perhaps no politician, not even Teflon Trump can withstand 92 percent negative media coverage, regardless of the underlying situation in reality.
The RealClearPolitics average of the “direction of country” polling has “right track” at 40 percent, with “wrong track” at 51 percent. Those numbers have seen remarkable little change little over the past 100 days.
One year ago (late April 2024) “right track” was stuck in the mid-20’s. The Friday before Inauguration Day (January 18), “right track” was below 28 percent.
Forget comparing the first 100 Days from 2025 to Trump’s first term in 2017. To York’s point, at no time during Trump’s first term did the “right track” figure look as good as it does for hm today.
For a significant share of the electorate, Trump has been delivering on his campaign promises and they like what they see. Even if they are told they are supposed to hate the man himself.
