Donald Trump just got disastrous news
How a president acts in the face of a catastrophe is often how we end up remembering their presidency – and we tend to overlook nearly everything else after they leave office – like the economy they presided over, or their average approval rating. While Donald Trump inherited a great economy and has never reached 50% in his job approval rating, people are much less divided when it comes to evaluating how he acts in the wake of national tragedies, according to a new poll from NBC News/Wall Street Journal.
The poll compared how modern presidents responded to national tragedies – from President Bill Clinton through Donald Trump. Trump didn’t even come close to his predecessors. 84% of Americans approved of President Clinton’s response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and George W. Bush received similar high marks for how he handled the 9/11 terrorist attacks. President Obama’s response to the 2011 Tucson shooting was also well received with 74% approval.
In fact, prior to Trump being sworn in, the only national tragedy to receive an unfavorable rating was President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, credited with tarnishing his legacy and costing him a great deal of his overall support. Bush’s approval and disapproval ratings were evenly split at 48%. By comparison, Donald Trump’s response to the 2017 Charlottesville rally which resulted in the death of Heather Heyer, received 55% disapproval with only 20% of Americans approving – a number smaller than Trump’s base.
He didn’t fare much better when it came to the epidemic of mass shootings that have occurred under his administration. His handling of El Paso, where his rhetoric inspired the shooter, mustered only 37% approval.
While tragedy is often a time for the nation to rally around its leader, Donald Trump practically makes a concerted effort to repel people with his astounding lack of decency. We can expect Trump to throw a tantrum about these findings – the fact that he fared worse than Obama at anything is grounds enough for that. The worst part about these findings, however, is that another mass shooting is probably inevitable, and for that matter, another natural disaster as climate change worsens – and we can expect the same appalling response.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making