Another Poll Shows Trump's Job Approval Numbers Are Very Bad

The chart above is from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between July 22nd and 24th of a nationwide sample of 2,193 adults, with a 2.7 point margin of error.
 

CBS Poll Shows Public Is Very Unhappy With Trump's War In Iran

 

The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between July 22nd and 24th of a nationwide sample of 2,193 adults, with a 2.7 point margin of error.

CBS News Kills Story To Please Donald Trump

Robert Reich comments on the story killed by the bosses at CBS to please Donald Trump:

Once you begin surrendering to Trump, he always wants more. You can’t appease a tyrant. 

David Ellison’s CBS — after gutting DEI policies there, appointing right-wing hack Kenneth R. Weinstein to a new “ombudsman” role, and making anti-“woke” opinion journalist Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News (despite her lack of experience in either broadcasting or newsrooms) — yesterday removed a segment from “60 Minutes” featuring stories of Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to what the program called a “brutal” prison in El Salvador. Bari Weiss had demanded changes to the segment.

 

The Ellisons — fils et père — have been seeking Trump’s support for their hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, but Trump has been unhappy with recent episodes of “60 Minutes,” even under its new management. Hence, the segment’s removal.

 

Sharyn Alfonsi, a long-standing “60 Minutes” correspondent who reported the segment that was removed, accused CBS News of pulling it for “political” reasons. “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” she wrote in a note to the CBS News Team. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

Here’s Alfonsi’s note in full:

News Team,

Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier.

I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.

Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.

We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.

If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a “kill switch” for any reporting they find inconvenient.

If the standard for airing a story becomes “the government must agree to be interviewed,” then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.

These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.

CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that “low point.” By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.

We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of “Gold Standard” reputation for a single week of political quiet.

I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.

Sharyn

Sharyn Alfonsi wins this week’s Joseph N. Welch Award for courage in the face of tyranny (named for the chief counsel for the U.S. Army who confronted Senator Joe McCarthy with the iconic question, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" which led to McCarthy’s demise). 

I’m old enough to remember when CBS News would never have surrendered to a demagogic president. But that was when CBS News — the home of Edward R. Murrow (who also revealed to America the danger of Joe McCarthy) and Walter Cronkite — was independent of the rest of CBS. And when the top management of CBS felt they had independent responsibilities to the American public.

America can survive without a “60 Minutes” it can trust, just as we can survive without trustworthy editorial pages of the Washington Post. But at some point, as Trump continues to repress criticism of him and his regime, American democracy is compromised beyond repair. 

We are coming to the end of only the first year of Trump II. He and the lapdogs and sycophants around him have done more damage to this nation in less than a year than I thought possible. 

They have not been them alone in their destruction. They’ve had enablers in the form of billionaires such as Larry and David Ellison, along with quisling managers such as Bari Weiss, who confuse having money and power with possessing integrity and fostering the common good.

The Public Is Unhappy With Trump's Handling Of The Economy

 

The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done on March 27th and 28th of a nationwide sample of 2,609 adults, with a 2.3 point margin of error.

Trump's Legal Woes Haven't Hurt Him With GOP Voters

The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between October 31st and November 3rd of a nationwide sample of 556 likely Republican primary voters, with a 5.5 point margin of error.

Poll Shows Most People Disagree With Republicans

These charts are from a recent CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between January 4th and 6th of a nationwide sample of 2,144 adults, with a 2.9 point margin of error.

Public: Democrats Are Weak & Republicans Are Extreme

The charts above are from the new CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between May 18th and 20th of a nationwide sample of 2,041 adults, with a 2.5 point margin of error.

Latest Electoral Projections For The U.S. House Outcome

From FiveThirtyEight.com

From CNN.com

From cbsnews.com

Public Is Not On Board With Trump's Arming Of Teachers

The top chart represents a sad fact about mass shootings in America today. About 53% say they are not surprised to hear about a new mass shooting in this country. That's not surprising, since there's a mass shooting every day in this country (on average).

The public is not happy with Donald Trump's reaction to the latest mass shooting (in Parkland, Florida). Only 33% of the general public, 32% of Independents, and 7% of Democrats approve of Trump's handling of the shooting. Only Republicans approve (69%).

Trump has mentioned strengthening background checks, but doesn't seem passionate about it -- probably because the NRA opposes it. I doubt he will continue to push it.

The one thing he does seem passionate about is arming Teachers (and other school employees). He claims those people would be able to stop a mass shooter (even though that has never happened in this country). He also says that will prevent those shooters from entering a school because they'll be afraid of being shot. That's even more nonsensical, since most mass shooters are suicidal (and if others don't kill them, they kill themselves).

Arming school employees is a crazy idea. It won't save lives -- but will probably cause more loss of life. The American public knows that, and most are opposed to Trump's idea. It turns out that 50% of the public opposes the idea, while 44% approve of it.

The public does want to see stricter gun laws though -- with 65% of the general public, 63% of Independents, and 85% of Democrats wanting that. Only 43% of Republicans want stricter laws.

Another interesting part of the poll concerned the NRA. It seems they are losing ground with the American public. A plurality of 46% say they have too much influence on our politics.

These charts are from a new CBS News / SSRS Poll -- done between February 20th and 22nd of a random national sample of 1,012 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.

Republicans Like Tax Plan - But No One Else Does

It looks like the Republican base voters are believing the lies their elected representatives are telling about the odious tax reform plan they are trying to pass in Congress. About 76% support the plan, while 62% think it will create jobs, and 72% think it make the economy better. Independents, Democrats, and the general public disagree on all three counts.

These charts above are from a new CBS News / SSRS Poll -- done between December 3rd and 5th of a random national sample of 1,120 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.

The poll also asked about Trump's job approval. It remains very low with 36% approving and 57% disapproving -- a negative gap of 21 points (see chart below).

Most Fox Viewers Have A Simplistic View Of The World

The chart above is from the YouGov Poll, using information gathered from the profiles of 200,000 YouGov members.

It shows that most Fox News viewers (60%) see the world in black and white terms. Things are either true or false, and people either believe in truth or they are against the truth. This very simplistic view of the world helps explain why they can believe in the outrageous lies put forward by right-wingers, and passed on by Fox News. These are the people who accept bumper sticker solutions to the nation's and the world's problems.

Smarter people know that is simply not the case. We live in a world composed of many shades of gray -- and many times the things we hear about are neither completely true or completely false. And the solutions to problems are most of the time far too complex to be put on a bumper sticker. The people who know that prefer to get their news from PBS or MSBNC.

Public Still Prefers Broadcast News To Cable News

The Pew Research Center has released its yearly look at the State of the News Media. It's a fairly comprehensive look at all different types of news media -- TV, radio, digital, and print media. It's an interesting read, and I recommend you go to their site and read the whole thing if this kind of thing interests you.

One of the things I found most interesting is contained in the above chart -- the primetime numbers for the major national TV news outlets. The cable news outlets would like for people to believe they are making significant inroads into the three broadcast networks, but that is just wishful thinking. The truth is that when it comes to getting news in the nightly primetime, the American public still trusts the broadcast channels over the cable channels (including Fox) -- and the numbers are not even close.