Yes, approval ratings show us something. They show us that the media are very good a crafting results in the direction of their bias. Approval ratings also tell us that people will still answer the phone and give their opinion on certain topics.
No, approval ratings are good for nothing else.
Does a good approval rating of the President tell us that he is a great leader? No. He may simply be staying out of the way and letting the status quo proceed. If the masses are basically content, he has good ratings. Good approval ratings do not tell us if a President is an honest and decent man. He may be clever at manipulation of bad news, and he may be promoting policies that will be tragic in the long run. If his policies seem exciting and helpful now, the masses will not remember that he was the culprit during the next President's term.
I will prove this from history.
The classic example is Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Johnson was obsessed with war in Vietnam, and he made sure it did not end. Every effort was made in Vietnam to make sure the US Military did not do any serious harm to the North Vietnamese government. Nixon came into office, and he eventually took American troops out of Vietnam. Nixon could have won the war if he had bombed Honoi and Hyphong Harbor, but he, and the Presidents before him, did not want to bomb Rockefeller's Shell oil refinery in Hyphong Harbor, so we allowed the Vietcong to drive the US Military out of Vietnam.
Jimmy Carter came into office, and he inherited the results of sending two million drafted men to war. When drafted men come home, they do not "re-up," meaning, they exit the military as fast as they can. The US has a rule that drafted men can get their job back which they had when they were drafted.
Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam Veterans took advantage of the rule, and thousands of men lost their jobs to them. This resulted in a huge jump in unemployment, and the economy went into a rather serious recession. So, who got blamed for this..... Johnson and Nixon? They were the real culprits. No, Carter was blamed for the unemployment and recession. I am a conservative, but I truly felt sorry for Carter, and I had told my family that this was coming to whichever President was in power at the end of the war.
So, Carter's ratings were not based on poor performance and bad policies by him. His low ratings were due to the performance and choices of the Presidents before him. In fact, I do not understand why he did not wait for four years to step in behind the victim and have two terms. I guess he did not understand what was coming. Carter was one of the most decent and guileless Presidents in US History, but the whole nation turned against him.
So, President Trump's ratings are going up. What does it mean?
Answer: Life is good in America, in spite of the dire rantings of Liberal Democrats. Indeed, there are Democrats who are figuring this out and keeping silent about Trump. These were the Democrats who stood and applauded during Trump's state of the union speech. These are smart Democrats who want to be re-elected.
So, what is the moral of this story?
Answer: Start watching the moral and mental patterns of the President, any President. Does he get anything accomplished? Does he make friends for America in other nations? Does he control himself and have clean speech and worthy thoughts?
Personally, I believe Trump is about 25% out of control all the time. But, the other 75% of the time he gets in some very useful licks. This means that the average American, the one who uses the "F" word to cover every other adjective in his blather, will love Trump. The American who blunders 25% of the time, or more, will see in Trump, "I man just like us flatlanders out here."
What does this mean? You can answer this by trying to do your own survey. Make a note of how many people during the day you hear use the "F" word in the flow of conversation. If you come up with 50% of more, Trump will have a second term. After all, "He is one of us." Indeed, Trump's potty mouth will win over Democrats better than any other tactic. And, you may quote me on that.
By the way, can you now tell why I never receive calls asking me my opinion on political issues? NSA has me on the list of "worthless opinion" people, and Homeland Security has me on the "potential terrorist" list.
