I'd Like to Help You, Son, But You're Too Poor to Matter

      It's long been an article of faith, one backed up by consistent poll numbers going back at least eight years, that Trump's overall approval rating would never sink below 33%. That's the third of the electorate that belly-flops into mud pits south of Mason Dixon and thinks all Democrats are Socialists. That 33% is what used to be considered that rock-hard, insoluble base that would never turn away from Trump.

     But an American Research Group survey published the results of their latest poll this week that puts the lie to that. While they didn't reveal data points such as how many people were polled or what their methodology exactly consisted of, it showed that Trump's overall approval rating has officially sunk to 29%. His numbers on the economy sink even lower: Only 26% of Americans approve of the way he's handling it.

     Considering how uniformly horrible the economic numbers are, it boggles the mind that it's even as high as that and that the number isn't closer to 1% (and we know what economic strata that 1% comes from). But, let's take what we can get. Trump's approval numbers have shown a very slow but steady decline in recent years.

     Trump is telling voters with his classic cluelessness to pretend that he's on the ballot this year. This comes from Trump's unshakable belief that he's the greatest, most popular president of all time and that all polls stating otherwise are a "hoax" or "fake news". But like the old saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for because you may get it."

     Voters are indeed pretending as if Trump is on the ballot, if the sagging poll numbers for down ballot Republicans are any indication. Those Republicans who once clung to Trump with the tenacity of grim death are now dumping him from their campaign websites (Like Byron Donalds, for instance). They know he's dragging the party and their electoral chances down and are sluggishly trying to swim away from the suction of Trump's sinking poll numbers.

     And historically, Republicans have sneered at low poll numbers, saying things like, "We can't legislate by poll numbers". Which is true up to a point but after a while, when the numbers are alarmingly low and are consistent or get worse month after month, they cease being poll numbers and because a relentless, unavoidable Greek chorus.

     And Republicans have largely if not entirely given up on doing anything for their constituents. They know whatever they do will be too little or too late to affect the inevitable outcomes of the midterms. Pundits and pollsters had been predicting since last year that House Republicans would get creamed this November 3rd. And now, it's looking as if the Senate will be handed to the Democrats as well. Suddenly, formerly red states such as Kansas, Texas, Alaska, Maine  and Iowa (Iowa!) are more than in play.

     Senator John Kennedy was asked recently about the lack of Republican effort in the Senate to lower prices and his answer was shocking but not surprising. He was asked by Kristen Welker if the GOP had the juice to address inflation, he said,

     "Sure, if we wanted to,” Kennedy replied. “We can do anything we want to in reconciliation and ask the House to come back and do it. I’m not saying we will do that. Certainly based on our record of the last five or six months, it’s not likely.”

     In other words, "I'd like to help you but you're too poor and insignificant to help. And it's not as if doing so will help us this November."