Why Donald Trump’s high approval ratings may be misleading
A statistical wrinkle makes the president appear more popular
ON ANY GIVEN day since he took office, Donald Trump has had a lower job-approval rating than almost every other modern president at the same point in their tenure. But over the past two weeks the polls have finally been giving Mr Trump some good news. According to an average of public polling data calculated by FiveThirtyEight, a data-journalism website, he is more popular than he has been since March 2017, two months after he took office. The BBC called it Mr Trump’s “best week” yet in office. Political betting markets increased his chances of re-election by roughly ten percentage points.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “A bogus bump”
United States February 22nd 2020
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- Michael Bloomberg gives an unconvincing performance in Nevada’s Democratic debate
- Why Donald Trump’s high approval ratings may be misleading
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- The Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy amid child-abuse lawsuits
- A quirk in the law means that America’s kidney shortage costs taxpayers
- Washington DC’s declining black population fights to preserve its musical heritage
- Companies can now get away with killing America’s birds
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