Trump is good for America.

The source of your 31% figure is, I believe, the Rasmussen outfit that also told us Romney would be our next president in 2012. They have a persistent Republican bias, and are consistently an outlier among major polling companies. They did a national telephone survey, which in itself is problematic at a time when younger folks have cell phones with no addresses in the telephone book. Asking the question provokes a response to an idea respondents might not have thought of until somebody brought it up. And a sizeable majority of respondents (59%) said such a conflict was unlikely. I haven't seen figures on the response rate to this survey, and that would be important in assessing its validity. Alex Jones, I believe, predicted a liberal uprising on the 4th of July, but that seems to have been another one of his delusions.

BTW, my statement about a "binary choice" was about electoral politics, parties and candidates--peaceful competition, not violent civil war. I find it hard to believe that people who are posting dark thoughts about civil war on the internet are more than a small minority of kooks and Russian trolls and bots. Our Divider in Chief promotes dissension to keep himself in office, but it's a big step from that to armed conflict. I do wonder what will happen if and when Mueller finishes his investigation and it's unfavorable to Trump. Will his base be nutty enough to take up arms? And what would the Russians do then? But I think normal people hope our better angles and our law enforcement authorities will prevail. Preoccupation with violence can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For an explanation of why a second civil war would be unlikely, see
http://www.historynet.com/a-second-u-s-civil-war-inevitable-or-impossible.htm

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Trump is only good for Trump

 

Again we can debate sources and percentages all you like. Trump has drawn in the same type of disenfranchised portions of the population that the Dems have for years. And is giving them on outlet for their frustrations that have been long simmering.

Further the left feels emboldened to simply defy a government they don't agree with in ways that seem more confrontational than ever.

Trump will play that out for all it's worth. Right now the Dems are getting him re-elected simply by trying to keep escalating it. Trump is thrilled that it energizes his base in the face of his own party dislike.

His popularity is higher now than ever before.

So yeah if he gets removed from office does his base come after me because I support that removal? Or do they go after the side that they have been angry over for about a decade or so?

And now the Republicans have learned that it is about the issues the voters for Trump have shown matter to them. So if they want to get votes, welcome to the world of having to champion some pretty crappy voters. A lesson the Dems have decades of practice at perfecting.

Time will tell.

Trump made a statement in his campaign that he could stand on the street corner and shoot someone, and they'd still vote for him. I think he had this figured out long before we did.

 

Why didn't any of this happen when Obama, Bush , Clinton and the first Bush were in office? Or before that? Only one name and one party comes to mind.

 

Not according to the polls. His "populatity" rose from 35% to 45% and is now in the low 40s--remarkably stable (except one day some time ago when a Rasmussen poll put him at 50). Gallup had him at 42% last week.(7/16 - 7/22) RealClear Politics gave a summary average of the major polls at 43.3%. His disapproval ratings have consistently ranged from the low to upper 50s. So he continues to be a minority president with the voters. And his tariffs caused slippage in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Compare with first term averages for other presidents.
Presidential Approval Ratings -- Gallup Historical Statistics and Trends
Lyndon Johnson November 1963-January 1965 74.2
Richard Nixon January 1969-January 1973 55.8
Gerald Ford August 1974-January 1977 47.2
Jimmy Carter January 1977-January 1981 45.5
Ronald Reagan January 1981-January 1985 50.3
George H.W. Bush January 1989-January 1993 60.9
Bill Clinton January 1993-January 1997 49.6
George W. Bush January 2001-January 2005 62.2
Barack Obama January 2009-January 2013 49.1

"No president before Trump had an initial approval rating below 50%. ...In mid-February, before the end of Trump's first month, his approval rating briefly fell below 40%, earlier in his presidency than anyone before him. In the second half of March, Trump had sub-40% job approval more consistently. Clinton is the only other president to register sub-40% approval ratings in his first year, having done so in June 1993 -- less than five months after he took office. While Trump has yet to register majority approval, most presidents stayed above the 50% level for a full year or more after taking office."Trump's Job Approval in First Quarter Lowest by 14 Points

That may be true, as far as his base is concerned. But isn't it frightening to think that we have such a demagogue in our highest office and that our constitutional democracy is therefore in such peril? His base is a cult. But if he keeps on with the trade wars, watch the economy slip. Then we'll see how they feel about him. Nero was once popular, too.

 

Approval ratings. Are those the same polls that said Trump had no chance of winning?

 

Probably not... Different question, different poll.

 

No, these are polls reporting approval from a random sample of eligible voters. Predictions require taking a number of variables into account, like Russian hackers, the Comey memo, etc. Those are always iffy.

 

I just had to...........

 

The world is rejecting Trump and everything he represents.

Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, Trumping Trump? | TomDispatch