A Morning Consult poll, taken just prior to Trump's shuttering of the federal government, shows his approval rating at 39 percent — 80 percent among Republicans, while 90 percent of Democrats disapprove, as do, more importantly, 57 percent of independents.
His current "popularity," notes the pollster, is the same as "in August 2017 — when Trump responded to the fatal melee between white supremacists and counter-protesters at the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Va., by blaming 'many sides.'"
As the shutdown drags on — and as the markets continue to plunge (the Dow is down 419 points as I write) — Trump's current popularity may look good to him in another two weeks or so.
From a different sort of poll, the Associated Press reports that "Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity … [has] been slumping in the ratings since the midterm elections and ominous stories related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the president.
"His show averaged 2.76 million viewers since the election through Dec. 17, down 19 percent compared to the previous month, the Nielsen company said. Among the 25-to-54-year-old demo most coveted by advertisers, he’s down 30 percent. Competitors Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and Chris Cuomo on CNN are up in each measurement."
That's one way for the Trump-fanatical troops to deny bad news: just tune it out.
"With bad news piling up for Trump," writes the AP, "Hannity frequently spends time criticizing ideological opponents in the media for the types of stories they emphasize, and discusses misdeeds by previous Democratic administrations."
To that, I can testify. I don't generally watch Hannity (good mental health comes with certain prohibitions), but I do see his show's promotional tweets, which are heavily laden with outrage at something Hillary has done, is about to do, or never thought of doing. But Hannity is on it like a chihuahua on a pants leg. And yet, said former NBC executive and Hofstra University's dean of communications school, "Even hard-core Trump fans are starting to put Hillary Clinton in their rear-view mirrors and say, ‘it’s been two years.'"
Thus Hannity's 30-percent nosedive, as well as Trump's failing blame games.