Republicans Are Heading For Disaster, And Here's Why

The Gallup poll measuring the public approval of 14 top newsmakers was the clearest sign yet that Trump is leading his party to an election disaster.

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It doesn’t take a data scientist or a pollster to determine the national mood. There is a credible argument that, except for a brief period of a year or two after Joe Biden’s election in 2020, the country has been in a state of anger.

This is not some cultural academic treatise on tribalism anger. The outrage is visceral. The United States often adopts the temperament of its presidents, and Trump has turned American culture into an angry and divisive place.

The situation could have been different if the Biden administration had brought inflation and prices down faster. There is an imaginable scenario in which the national sense of anger subsides, there is no interest in a Trump return outside of the media and billionaire circles, and the nation moves on.

However, asking the Biden administration to do what no other government around the world has been able to do is unrealistic at best. History suggests that economic disruptions caused by shocks like pandemics and recessions can take a decade to resolve fully, and history shows that policies adopted by the second Trump administration can exacerbate, rather than mitigate, the effects of an economic shock.

Everyone in the country is trying to read the tea leaves to see what the consequences will be for the deterioration of the national situation that Trump has created and unleashed on the American people.

A Gallup poll about newsmakers might seem at first blush like an odd place to find this insight, but what the numbers reveal is telling.

According to Gallup:

Among 14 prominent U.S. and global figures, Pope Leo XIV has the most positive image by far, with many more Americans viewing him favorably than unfavorably. His 57% favorable rating and 11% unfavorable rating result in a +46 net-favorable score, far ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (+18) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (+11).

French President Emmanuel Macron and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are each viewed about equally positively as negatively, with large percentages having no opinion of each. All other figures rated in the July 7-21 Gallup poll are viewed unfavorably on balance. This ranges from a slightly negative tilt for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (-5) to strongly negative skews for Elon Musk (-28) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (-23).

…

Other newsmakers rated more negatively than positively are Biden (-11), Vice President JD Vance (-11), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (-11), Hegseth (-12), Trump (-16) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-16).

What has happened to Trump and those who associate with him is dramatic. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Elon Musk both joined up with Trump and lost 24 points of net approval. Trump is down a net 14 points since January, and RFK Jr. and JD Vance are down 13 points.

It is the people who make the two most popular net politicians in America signal disaster for Republicans. We will discuss them below.

Bernie Sanders, AOC, Zelenskyy, and The Pope Walk Into A Bar