I’m starting to wonder what President Trump’s approval rating would look like if he simply emerged from Mar-a-Lago once a month to point at a chart filled with positive economic news. These are big, beautiful, tremendous numbers, America. You’re welcome. Let’s keep going. See you in a few weeks! Earlier in the week, I quoted extensively from a Harris-Harvard national survey on free speech issues, but that data set measured public opinion on more generic questions, too. Two significant disconnects — also reflected in other polling — caught my attention: First, a heavy majority of respondents said that the country is on the wrong track overall (30/59), but when that question was refined to ask about the US economy, the numbers flipped into positive territory (47/35). Similarly, Trump’s job approval is heavily underwater (43/57), but on “stimulating jobs” and handling the economy, he attracts majority approval. So in spite of all of the sound and fury over race relations, Russia, and sundry controversies du jour (not to minimize the importance of any of those), some of the positive economic indicators are obviously breaking through. Here’s another fresh stat for the White House to trumpet:
U.S. second-quarter GDP revised up, fastest in over two years https://t.co/D3UQJQjnPX pic.twitter.com/yHqOeq4UN8
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) August 30, 2017
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July’s jobs number beat expectations, too. As the US economy continues to strengthen, and with markets generally performing well, Republicans would do well to recall that the promise of a pro-growth agenda is baked into some of these statistics. Progress must be sustained and built upon. Expectations must be met. Having already booted the ball on Obamacare reform (an issue that will not just go away, due to the status quo’s continued failures), the GOP is gearing up for a major tax overhaul this fall. The president spoke about the effort yesterday in Missouri, laying down a gauntlet for Congressional leaders:
