Keller: Can President Trump brush off his tanking poll numbers?
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
Across the political spectrum, the polls agree that President Trump's job approval has taken a hit lately.
But with the president lashing out at those numbers after a well-known conservative commentator drew attention to them, you wonder if Mr. Trump can afford to brush them off.
What do the latest polls say?
"I think we had the greatest hundred days in the history of our country for an administration," the president said recently. But that's not what the wave of 100-day polls shows. The Real Clear Politics website average shows Trump's popular border security crackdown weighed down by concern over other immigration moves and his foreign policy and management of the economy and inflation sagging well underwater, a red flag for Republican commentator Karl Rove.
"There's a lot of concern about the economy," he noted. "The president's ratings on handling of the economy and the tariffs are in the 30s, and his overall approval now is in the mid to low 40s, and that's not a good place to be a hundred days in."
Rove's comments so angered the president, he lashed out online, dismissing Rove as "a total loser who's been wrong about everything."
Ignore the polls "at your own risk."
But veteran pollster Dave Paleologos of Suffolk University said "you ignore [the polls] at your own risk," and recalled how then-President Biden waved off his polling collapse after the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, only to learn it had become his new normal. "What Rove is pointing out is you'd better address these quickly, address the tariffs, which he probably will, and the economy before you have the Biden effect, which is once you go underwater, you stay underwater."
Paleologos agrees with Rove that blunders like posting an online impersonation of the Pope don't help. But he predicts Trump will amend his economic policies in reaction to negative polls. "If people learn by their polling, they'll do quite well; otherwise, they're doomed to fail," he said.
We're so far away from the midterm elections, you may wonder how much polls even matter right now. And there's no doubt they definitely can change, although as Paleologos points out, it's not written in granite that they will.
But Republican control of Congress is on the line next year, and we're not far from the point where members worried about being dragged down by Trump disapproval could start peeling off on key votes.
So these polls do matter, and you can bet they're a source of concern in the White House.
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Epoch Times
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News24
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CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Transgender military members heartbroken, fighting to serve despite Trump ban
Thousands of transgender U.S. military members have until Friday, June 6, to identify themselves and begin a voluntary separation from the armed forces under a ban implemented by the Trump administration. WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren spoke to three decorated service members about the uncertain future ahead. Thousands of transgender U.S. military members have until Friday, June 6, to identify themselves and begin a voluntary separation from the armed forces under a ban implemented by the Trump administration. CBS News Baltimore Transgender military members share heartbreak Colonel Bree Fram joined the military after 9/11 and was determined to give back. She never thought her distinguished career of more than two decades in the Air Force – and now the Space Force – would end with an executive order from the president to purge the military of its transgender members. "I'm absolutely heartbroken because we have given everything of ourselves," Col. Fram said. 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Courtesy of DVIDS Sabrina Bruce, a decorated Master Sergeant in the Space Force, also feels the uncertainty. "I've served authentically, and it has not been an issue," Bruce said. "I've been promoted multiple times, multiple medals, awards, everything. It's never been an issue that's come up. I've never been good at anything in my life except the military. I found a community and a home in the military, and so the very real thought that I may lose that, it hurts because all I want to do is serve, and I want to continue giving back and continue standing up for this nation that we all believe in." Thousands of transgender U.S. military members have until Friday, June 6, to identify themselves and begin a voluntary separation from the armed forces under a ban implemented by the Trump administration. Courtesy of Space Force Master Sergeant Sabrina Bruce Trump's position on transgender troops The president has made no secret of his plans to oust transgender service members. "Our warriors should be focused on defeating America's enemies, not figuring out their genders," Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail in North Carolina in August 2024. While in Michigan in April, he promised to get "woke lunacy and transgender insanity the hell out of our government." His administration reportedly wants commanders to "out" transgender troops or force them to get medical check-ups, where they would be identified and forced out of the military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in April, "Expressing a false gender identity divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service." Directives given to U.S. military Although Hegseth had made formal assurances in a February memo that transgender service members would be treated with dignity, the Army's new internal directives to units instruct personnel to intentionally address transgender troops – even superior officers - in accordance with an individual's medical assignment at birth, rather than by their preferred pronoun. Hegseth also told a Special Operations Force military conference in May, "No more dudes in dresses, we're done with that s***." CBS News previously reported that under Army guidance, transgender officers will receive what's known as a "Code JDK" upon separation. The code is for the Military Personnel Security Program. It's typically applied to discharge paperwork where a service member is being separated from the U.S. military for a security reason. "You say they are the problem, but you can't identify them, and the government's response was we have to go through their medical records to figure it out," Col. Fram said. "And I think that's a pretty good indicator that we're not a problem. If you have to look for something in a file to identify someone who is a problem, they aren't the problem." Goodell said, "I'm not a weak link…I'm an addition. I'm not a subtraction." Bruce expressed hope to continue serving in some capacity, "Whether that's in uniform, outside of uniform, whatever that may mean." Maryland Attorney General fights against ban Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said he joined 20 other attorneys general in filing a brief before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that Mr. Trump's ban on transgender troops is discriminatory and harms national security. "These are courageous, skilled individuals who are willing to risk everything for their country. President Trump's unlawful ban sacrifices military readiness and basic human dignity for political gain. We must stand with all those who are ready to serve, not push them aside because of who they are," Brown said in a statement. Court battles over ban on transgender troops In the short term, hope is dimming for Bruce and other transgender troops. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government can oust transgender military service members while multiple legal challenges wind their way through lower courts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt cheered the Supreme Court's order as a "massive victory" and said in a social media post that Mr. Trump and Hegseth "are restoring a military that is focused on readiness and lethality – not DEI or woke gender ideology." Troops react to transgender ban Col. Fram said bluntly, "What's likely going to happen is that by the time we get a ruling from the court that puts a final stamp on this, people's lives will have been disrupted. We will almost all—if not all of us—be gone from the military." Goodell said the fear is tangible. "There are times at night where I have to fend off panic attacks because I don't know what my future is going to be…like am I going to be able to learn a job outside of the military," Goodell questioned. An analysis in 2017 found that discharging transgender troops would cost $1 billion, far more than the $52 million spent on gender-affirming care. "In fact, we're taking some of them directly off the battlefield today," Fram said. "These are people who are deployed, doing their wartime mission, who are being told, 'You're not deployable. You need to come home.'" Despite the directive, Fram stressed that her colleagues have her back. "It really does make you stop and think about who you are and what you believe in," Fram said. "And what I think is so amazing about transgender service members is that they have done that look inside. They have said, 'This is who I am. This is what I believe in. I am here to fulfill my oath.' We don't swear that oath just to live by it in the easy times. We do it when it's hard, and right now is one of those hard times, but we're doing it. We are accomplishing the mission, and we will continue to do so until the last day we possibly can." Thousands of transgender U.S. military members have until Friday, June 6, to identify themselves and begin a voluntary separation from the armed forces under a ban implemented by the Trump administration. Courtesy of Colonel Bree Fram
