> [!info]- meta > **Author**: [[G. Elliott Morris]] > **Full Title**: The Thermostat Comes for Trumpism > **Category**: #articles > > **Summary**: Donald Trump's approval ratings have dropped significantly, with a current net approval of -9.5% and rising disapproval on key issues like the economy and immigration. Public concern has shifted towards economic issues, leaving Trump vulnerable as Democrats gain an advantage in both issue importance and public trust. Overall, voters are less focused on Trump's strong points and more on issues where Democrats are perceived to have the upper hand. > > **Source**: [Original URL](https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-thermostat-comes-for-trumpism) ## 🔦 Highlights & Commentary - My theory for this is that criticism of several deportations and violations of federal court orders [have shaped Americans' assessments](https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/should-democrats-focus-on-immigration) of his overall immigration policy. This is an example, similar to how the Affordable Care Act for a short time shaped attitudes on "health care," of how parties can lose advantages on issues as the underlying components making up the broader policy umbrella change in popularity and salience. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jt41hank0kmmzba0ggaf9ayh)) -  ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jt41jaqfrgyqm7qpn0js49jw)) - Gallup says this trend is due in part to polarization in priorities. Since Republicans care more about right-coded issues such as crime and immigration, when they ease up on issues their party has an advantage on, simply because their party is in power now, the issue landscape naturally shifts against them. Gallup writes: ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jt41kf3c6bfyp5yz1q6xdrzp)) - Thermostatic politics is the political science term for how the public predictably reacts to changes in government spending, say for defense or education, by adjusting its “thermostat” in the opposite direction. If spending gets too "hot," the public will "cool" down and express a desire for less spending relative to the current level, and vice versa. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jt41rp9qnc6vxgrma54tw50b)) - There is of course a cleaner explanation right now, one that the [Ockhamites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor) will favor, and that is simply this: Trump badly mismanaged trade and the economy and deported people the public didn't want deported, so now they are worried about the economy and less worried about him deporting the other people they originally wanted him to deport. Executive overreach has the people signaling for cooler policy. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jt41vev5j7a4hpf0pq77ry6g))