Pre-presidential Approval Ratings

What percentage of American adults have an UNFAVORABLE pre-inauguration opinion of PEOTUS Donald Trump?

  1. How surprised are you by this information?

  2. What is the average unfavorability pre-inauguration rating for the past four presidents?

  3. How accurate was your prediction?

  4. Explain whether this information makes you happy?

  5. What is the big story here?

  6. Why do you think Trump's unfavorability ratings are so high?

  7. Why do you think Trump's unfavorability ratings are so much worse than his predecessors?

  8. Like PEOTUS Trump, President Bush II also lost the popular vote. How much do you think losing the popular vote affects approval ratings?

  9. What is one consequence of these low approval ratings on Trump's ability to get laws passed and nominees approved?

  10. What do you think generally happens to presidential approval ratings during a president's term?

  11. What do you think will happen to Trump's approval rating over the next few years?

  12. Based on this data, do you believe Trump will be reelected?

  13. There once was a thing called a presidential honeymoon (it's one of our GoPo Pro vocab terms), where presidents were basically supported for their first 100 days-or so in office. What do you think the Trump honeymoon will be like?

  14. Explain whether you think Trump's low approval rating is good news for the US.

  15. If PEOTUS were a Star Wars character, which character would he be and why?

  16. President Trump recently tweeted that the approval polls were rigged. Do you believe that the polls are rigged and if so, what incentive do pollsters have to show he has low approval ratings?

Learning Extension

Read Nate Silver's article on 538.com about whether we should trust Trump's Approval rating #s or not.

Action Extension

Take an unscientific sample of ten of your peers. Ask them if they have a favorable opinion of Donald Trump. Compare your numbers to the Gallup #s at top. Explain how your numbers compare with Gallup's #s and share your findings online or in class! 

Bonus Charts

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