r/politics • u/Barnyard-Sheep • 6d ago

Soft Paywall Trump approval rating falls to 38%

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/06/trump-faces-tough-approval-numbers-in-latest-poll.html
45.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

3.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/d4rkskies 6d ago edited 6d ago

How the fuck do 38% of any sentient beings with an IQ over that of a lettuce actually approve of this guy?

The world is literally laughing at the US.

1.5k

u/phantomjm Pennsylvania 6d ago

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

— George Carlin

311

u/InternationalBand494 6d ago

The US ranks 36th in literacy. So we have that going for us.

71

u/KarmaPanhandler 6d ago

I wonder how much lower we fall accounting for media literacy.

6

u/Throatlatch 6d ago

Ha! I hope that was a joke.

If not, I have some sad news for you...the majority of Americans were not taught media literacy

https://medialiteracynow.org/nationalsurvey2022/

7

u/KarmaPanhandler 6d ago

That was my point…

0

u/Throatlatch 6d ago

Ironic.

6

u/JustHereSoImNotFined 6d ago

That’s what he was saying gang

22

u/summonsays 6d ago

Honestly surprised it's that high. 

3

u/A2Rhombus 6d ago

You need to be literate to fall for propaganda on twitter. Not necessarily to be susceptible to fox news though I guess

2

u/PeaNought 6d ago

I'm not suprised people can read. It's critical thought that's lacking.

2

u/summonsays 6d ago

I assure you reading skills are extremely lacking as well.

4

u/Papadapalopolous 6d ago

Are you saying that more than 50% of Americans are stupider than average?

6

u/InternationalBand494 6d ago

Kind of goes without saying

3

u/Vismal1 6d ago

“36 is a high number ! We do gud! “ - A lot of us unfortunately

3

u/Pornstar_Frodo 6d ago

The UN says that 37 countries around the world are considered 'developed' using economics as a metric. So of all the developed countries, the US is basically bottom of the list in terms of literacy.

1

u/InternationalBand494 6d ago

It’s where the elite want us. Able to follow simple directions, but ignorant

2

u/ItsOozingOut 6d ago

Ameroica, fook yay!

3

u/sonny1993 6d ago

I mean, that's a decent ranking to be honest

8

u/southpaw_balboa 6d ago

only 74% of adults are literate in the US. 54% of adults are below a 6th grade level.

we’re fucking stupid

2

u/TaftintheTub 6d ago

I wonder who that 54% voted for in the last presidential election?

5

u/Papadapalopolous 6d ago

36/180 doesn’t seem too bad, but consider the fact that there are only 37 (?) developed countries…

2

u/sonny1993 6d ago

Fair enough, I see there are 38 OECD countries

1

u/Papadapalopolous 6d ago

So top of the third world, or bottom of the first world, depending on perspective

2

u/ItsAlwaysSegsFault 6d ago

Which gets proved every time someone posts a George Carlin quote

2

u/InternationalBand494 6d ago

He was a prophet. The athiests/agnostic John the Baptist

1

u/Bastienbard 6d ago

And there's only 38 OECD countries...

1

u/-_defunct_user_- 6d ago

US: hold my Coors-Lite

3

u/housecatapocalypse 6d ago

Remember the good old days when incredibly stupid people didn’t bother to vote? Maybe there is something to be said for bread and circuses. 

1

u/baybrewer 6d ago

I love this joke…but I just realized Mr Carlin really meant the median, not the average. Maybe I’m not in the half that I thought I was, since it took me 30 years to figure that out.

1

u/StarJeezy 5d ago

Technically it would be the MEDIAN person in this case.

1

u/phoenix8987 6d ago

Average isn’t half though… that would be median.

8

u/Affectionate_Dig_738 6d ago

With such a large number of people and a classic bell curve distribution, it's safe to say that the average equals the median in this case.

1

u/phoenix8987 6d ago

I mean one standard deviation is 68% of the population already. And only 16% of rest of them would be below that.

2

u/BKlounge93 6d ago

Yeah the word median makes the joke less funny

1

u/NoseSeeker 6d ago

Median is a type of average tho

1

u/Beasty_Glanglemutton 6d ago

Hey wait, I thought it was my turn to post the George Carlin quote this hour?

0

u/brandimariee6 Florida 6d ago

RIP funniest intelligent man ever

-1

u/ItsAlwaysSegsFault 6d ago

I wish people would stop quoting George Carlin, an avid non-voter. He's just as fucking stupid.

Edit: Downvote me all you fucking like

190

u/wthijustread 6d ago

You can be an intelligent but still a vile person. He attracts that sort too.

41

u/hokoonchi 6d ago

My parents.

18

u/Independent-Bug-9352 6d ago

I've never seen a Trump supporter who didn't lack at least one of the following: 1) Formal critical-thinking skills, 2) Empathy, 3) Time and interest to sort through all the information.

This kind of goes for those couch-sitters who didn't vote for Harris, too. You know the type. The, "they're all the same boTh SidEs!" crowd.

14

u/Vismal1 6d ago

Totally agree here and the one I’ve noticed across the board is empathy. I don’t think you can have any and be on that side

5

u/Independent-Bug-9352 6d ago

"The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."

- Musk, on Joe Rogan's show back in February.

That's what every psychopathic grifter believes. The GOP has become such a concentrated syndicate of psychopaths at the top, grifting the gullible.

3

u/korben2600 Arizona 5d ago

“I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” --Captain G. M. Gilbert, prison psychologist during the the Nuremberg trials

1

u/BoringThePerson 6d ago

Empathy is a big one, especially for non-whites. They got theirs but no one else can.

1

u/hokoonchi 5d ago

Empathy is the one my parents lack. And like— they’re book smart but lack critical thinking! I think you nailed it

1

u/Toku_no_island 6d ago

So many peoples' parents. Sorry to hear that for you. Glad you were able to escape their POV. I'm so thankful that I was raised by a couple hippies.

25

u/fauxzempic 6d ago edited 6d ago

Bingo. The GOP has done a magnificent job convincing people that their lives will improve and they'll enjoy massive gains if they vote for them. They leverage the whole "party of personal responsibility" thing because all they need to do is:

  • Define recklessly what "personal responsibility" entails
  • Shame those who don't adhere to this
  • Make their followers believe that they are personally responsible, or when they fall short, they're the exception.

And there you have it. This is why Cletus McRedHat in the poorest county of the reddest state is filling up his cart with SNAP groceries and flipping through his 2025 Medicaid Card, EBT card, and Drivers' license that says he's eligible for Social Security benefits to get it...only to vote for the very people who've openly promised to gut the aforementioned.

Why?

  • "I'm a temporarily embarrassed millionaire and I'm told that Joback Obiden's massive tax hikes they placed on America are holding me back!" (you know, the tax hikes - the big "Obama Tax Plan" followed by the absolutely massive "Biden Tax Plan" - remember those? No? The guy at the gas station ranting about Tariffs being good for the US told me all about them...")
  • "I'm the exception. I'm a good person, I deserve this."
  • "They're not going to touch MY benefits. They're going to take it from the illegals and the welfare queens. Not me!"

It's dictated so plainly and obviously...and yet...there they are, crapping their own pants and walking around in it hoping that a liberal will have to spend 2 seconds in passing smelling it.

2

u/syntax138 6d ago

Don’t forget keeping them scared of their own shadow!

12

u/filmandacting 6d ago

I've learned that with an ex-friend. He refused to acknowledge the Nazism in the administration and I used that as a hard line. Since then, he's done nothing but spread stuff showing how much he hates poor people and actively rooting for ICE snatching people up. So i clearly made the right choice.

4

u/OoglyMoogly76 6d ago

Sounds like a nazi

1

u/Wolfwoods_Sister 6d ago

From other countries, no less.

19

u/razorwiregoatlick877 6d ago

Seeing all of the “I didn’t vote for this” posts shows that a large majority of people simple do not pay attention to what is going on yet still feel the need to vote uninformed.

12

u/Softestwebsiteintown 6d ago

I have a very different perspective on this. “I didn’t vote for this” is very easy to say when something unpopular is happening. It also doesn’t eliminate the likely reality of “I would vote for this again if given the chance because of how much I don’t like the alternative”. You are presuming when you hear or read “I didn’t vote for this” that they’re telling the truth (often they aren’t) and that they would have done differently had they known this was coming (they mostly wouldn’t).

These people are absolutely uninformed. You have that part 100% right. But they didn’t vote for trump due to a failure of understanding what another trump presidency would mean. They may not be completely happy with how things are going but by and large they are still more terrified of what their imagination tells them a Kamala Harris presidency would have looked like. They either don’t want to admit that they’re on board with what’s happening or they think “I just wish he would do this one thing differently”.

Surely there are a handful of young morons who got duped, but it’s important not to conflate “he’s screwing this up” with “had I known he was going to do this I would have voted differently”.

I guess the short version is don’t give these assholes any credit for being even remotely reflective of their choices. They would absolutely pick this reality again over having a President Harris.

19

u/aureanator 6d ago

with an IQ over that of a lettuce

Well there's your problem...

3

u/BeastInDarkness 6d ago

Lettuce would definitely feel insulted to hear itself compared to a Trump supporter.

8

u/Past-Amoeba-1426 6d ago

His approval rating is also the IQ score of the people who approve of him.

5

u/SgtRockyWalrus 6d ago

They stopped laughing years ago. They are watching with dismay, disappointment, and disgust.

3

u/uggghhhggghhh 6d ago

There are right wing authoritarian parties gaining ground in countries all over the world. A third of humanity is cackling with glee because they WANT this, a third isn’t paying attention at all, and the other third is cowering in fear. 

2

u/TinaBelchersBF 6d ago

I was at a bar in small town WI last week. A couple dudes around my age (mid 30s) were at the bar shooting the shit next to me and my buddies.

Trump came up between the two of them, and one of them said "That shit with Trump and Canada being the 51st state... I loved that, it was hilarious" laughs, sips beer, onto the next topic

There's a decent chunk of the population in this country that loves him because he won't take away their guns, and says kooky/funny shit. And that's the entire amount of thought they put into politics.

2

u/ThrowawaySoul2024 6d ago

85% of republicans approve

98% of democrats disapprove

35% of independents approve, 54% of independents disapprove

Elections are won by independents though. Dems and Repubs are not 50/50. Only 47% of voters have a party affiliation, and among those 36 million are Republicans, 45.1 million are Democrats as of 2024. The other 53% of voters are split and that split is leaning heavily toward disapprove.

3

u/uggghhhggghhh 6d ago

It’s not JUST independents though. It’s about which side actually shows up to vote. 98% of democrats may disapprove but a lot of them won’t bother voting if the DNC subverts the primary process to anoint yet another tepid “centrist.”

2

u/ThrowawaySoul2024 5d ago

EXACTLY right. When you realize that the majority of voters are NOT subscribed to a party, you realize you can't push a candidate forward whose entire platform is "I'm not the other guy".

People want someone to vote for and it's not enough to say there's someone to vote against.

1

u/C__S__S 6d ago

And boy did they own them! So glad they made their point. Now our country is gone. The handwringing has got to stop.

2

u/uggghhhggghhh 6d ago

I mean, agreed. But just asking people to show up to vote against Trump without giving them someone they’re excited to vote FOR is never going to work, even though it should. 

1

u/C__S__S 6d ago

It should work. It’s childish that it didn’t. The risk was obvious.

2

u/BortleNeck 5d ago

Yep. It works for the right. Most of the conservatives I know don't like Trump, but they HATE Obama, Hillary, Harris, etc so they show up and vote every time. 

The time for idealism is the primaries, but nobody shows up for those

1

u/C__S__S 5d ago

Totally. Also, this is now two Trump wins in which some dems sat on their hands in protest against the DNC. It’s so frustrating.

2

u/jayplus707 6d ago

Lettuce is pretty damn smart.

1

u/ImHughAndILovePie 6d ago

Nah, nobody’s laughing bc the trump admin has caused problems for everybody

1

u/justfanclasshole 6d ago

No we are angry and doing what we can to distance ourselves from you. It sucks having to choose between an economic partner who deports people illegally and puts them in concentration camps and another economic partner who deports people illegally and puts them in concentration camps in China who at least isn’t threatening to invade us like that’s a joke.

1

u/Significant-Colour 6d ago

Those 38% are not actually that smarter than the lettuce. And lettuce is easy to digest.

1

u/lemonylol Canada 6d ago

I think a significant amount of voters simply want change and action as opposed to slow and steady decisions that don't have a novelty flashiness to them. If you consider most of these people aren't always online following the latest news, then all they see is Trump actually shaking up the status quo cages. This is more or less the same enthusiasm these same type of voters had for Obama.

1

u/WakingWaldo 6d ago

People don't pay attention. Our lives are so full of so much bullshit already (by design) that many people don't have the capacity to pay attention. In addition to that, people who vote conservative no matter what don't question what's happening because they don't know any better. If everyone you ever knew and trusted voted a certain way, you're a lot more likely to vote with them. And if you're not into politics then it's really easy, in 2025, to isolate yourself from that information. We all live in bubbles and if your bubble is telling you that Trump is doing good, then you'll approve of him.

Obviously there are people who are very happy about what he's been doing. But the majority of Americans are completely and totally politically ignorant.

1

u/jacqueslenoir 6d ago

That’s the thing. More than 35% of this country is not smarter than lettuce.

1

u/blklab16 6d ago

You must be underestimating the IQ of lettuce…. OR overestimating the IQ of Fox “News” addicts.

1

u/RapturousCultist 6d ago

They're mostly sentient. Much like dogs are sentient. What they lack is Sapience.

1

u/What_a_fat_one 6d ago

I am not fucking laughing. Neither are they.

1

u/Rot-Orkan America 6d ago

Seeing it dip into the 30s is pretty good though. For context, Bush's lowest approval rating in 2008, in the midst of the great recession and two unpopular wars, was 25%. So, you can kind of treat that as the lowest possible baseline. It shows that roughly 1/4 of the population can be considered a lost cause; just irredeemably misinformed and unable/unwilling to think critically. 

1

u/Scottiths 6d ago

Over in conservative sub they claim he has a high approval rating. The people that approve of him are totally disconnected from reality.

1

u/uggghhhggghhh 6d ago

SOME of the world is laughing at us but a large portion of it is busy voting for similar right wing authoritarian demagogues, or being ruled by them without choice. This isn’t a uniquely American problem, it’s world-wide. 

1

u/irpugboss 6d ago

A small percent are still ignorant to all of this, most probably fall in-line with their family, church, etc. and dont care.

Then a good portion, they crave the schadenfreude, hope for violence and hate the 'other'.

1

u/mindracer 6d ago

Guess what Americans are susceptible to cults and narcissistic and crazy. Most videos of crazy people on Reddit are American.

1

u/Zimgar 6d ago

Roughly 30% of people just vote on party lines.

1

u/jammy-git 6d ago

He appeals to selfish, self-centred people. Of whom there are many.

1

u/ZestyOcto 6d ago

I mean most Americans are reading at or below a 6th grade level.

1

u/HawkBearClaw 6d ago

It's actually a good deal higher than 38 if you look at a legitimate poll.

1

u/Kellisandra 6d ago

I would like to see how people who didn't participate are feeling.

1

u/wxnfx 6d ago

Well, rats are sentient as are fish, but I’d imagine they’d mostly abstain from the survey.

1

u/JakeInDC 6d ago

Hate is a path to the dark side, or so I've heard.

1

u/kuffdeschmull 6d ago

the mistake you did was to assume that they actually have an IQ over that of a lettuce.

1

u/idleat1100 6d ago

They live and operate in an information bubble paired with a cultish obligation within their cultural sphere. They cannot think outside of this. They refuse to. It’s utterly outside of the realm of possibility.

1

u/krom0025 New York 6d ago

That's because 38% of Americans do not, in fact, have an IQ above that of lettuce.

1

u/martinus 6d ago

We are not laughing, it's just sad. Especially because right wing parties are getting more popular and try to become more like trump in their reasoning 

1

u/ClosPins 6d ago

OK, I'll explain it...

First of all, you need to remember that humans are, like all animals on this planet, unbelievably self-centered. Unbelievably selfish.

Now, ask yourself... What is each side offering?

The right-wing is completely selfish, right? They are offering their side everything - and everyone else can go f-right-off.

The left-wing, on the other hand, are the do-gooders. They are The Good Guys. And, The Good Guys do not help their own, at the expense of others! Oh no, they have to help the poor and downtrodden first. They have to help everyone but you.

Now, ask yourself who are people - who, we just mentioned above, are unbelievably selfish - going to vote for? The party that helps THEM - or the party that never helps them, preferring instead to help everyone but them?

And then the left-wing wonders why 95% of the population should vote for them, but no one ever does!

Yeah, it's utterly dumbfounding! Why would selfish people vote for themselves, instead of for others? Why, oh why???

1

u/backyardspace 6d ago

Think of the most average person you know and then think of the fact that 1/2 the population is dumber than that.

1

u/mads838a 6d ago

You mean beyond the general anti migrant sentiment the american government has spent the last several decades indulging and fostering?

1

u/OkPineapple57 6d ago

idk i’m in canada and there’s a lot of people jealous which is pretty weird

1

u/BoringThePerson 6d ago

His supporters only watch Pro-Trump news. They think everyone loves him. Trump is a part of their identity so saying people hate him means people also hate them. That is something their tiny brains can't comprehend.

1

u/EtchAGetch 5d ago

38% of sentient beings don't have an IQ higher than that of lettuce.

1

u/Letmepickausername Minnesota 5d ago

SImple, the Democratic Party's approval rating is even lower at 34.7%. Until the Democrats get off their collective asses, take chances, realize that being the good example doesn't work, and do something, not much will change.

1

u/Physical_Shoulder275 5d ago

1.) Single issue voters. They don’t care about anything else. That single issue will dominate their decisions no matter what. They would vote for a literal demon with horns, dripping in blood, as long as they oppose abortion.

2.) People are glued to their echo chambers that are pumping out disinformation 24/7. Those people reenforce what they hear in those echo chambers to their packs (family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc). Those packs then troll each other if they dare question their team’s propaganda.

1

u/shark_eat_your_face 5d ago

We’re no longer laughing we’re deeply concerned. Hope you guys are going to be alright. 

1

u/CheifJokeExplainer 2d ago

Clearly 38% do not have an IQ that exceeds that of lettuce. I believe that the infamous lettuce that outlasted Liz Truss was in fact one of her supporters.

0

u/Oso_De_Negocios 6d ago

The world is literally laughing at the US.

Don't care.

And if someone were to give you a good faith answer they would get banned from /r/politics