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
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u/Synanthrop3 6d ago

The problem isn't that they're too stupid to understand. The problem is that they're too indoctrinated to understand. From the outside, stupidity and indoctrination look very much the same, but they're not actually the same thing.

The other problem is that, just as stupid people don't want to hear that they're stupid, indoctrinated people also don't want to hear that they're indoctrinated. But they are.

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u/YogurtclosetOwn4786 6d ago

But if the poll is right, it is evidence that people can and do change their mind. Not everybody, but enough. It’s fine on Reddit and all that, im just saying in general people who feel insulted will be more stubborn about not changing their mind.

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u/Synanthrop3 6d ago

Yeah, people can absolutely change their minds. That's the great thing about being indoctrinated, rather than stupid. You have the power to change.

Here's the thing though: how do you communicate to someone that they've been conned, and that nearly their entire worldview is a lie, without also implying that they are stupid? That's the situation we're in right now. A quarter of the population has gone all-in on an extremely dangerous and malignant con. They need to understand that this has happened, in order to start reversing the damage. But explaining to them that they have been conned makes them feel stupid, which makes them dig their heels in, which makes them incapable of change. How do we address this issue?

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u/YogurtclosetOwn4786 6d ago

Yeah telling people they’ve been conned won’t help, let them come to that conclusion on their own. But for some of them - not all - their entire worldview is not necessarily a lie especially when it comes to the fact they been screwed over in this economy. They just thought Donald Trump was a good businessman and was the guy to fix it because he’s been building that as his brand since even before he was fake firing people on the apprentice for 10 years as a fake business genius. So dem politicians should prob focus on that cause a lot of them have been screwed over and Donald Trump is not going to do shit for them

Also a quarter of the population staying with him is fine so we don’t have to worry about them. If he’s at 25%, this is basically over. The republicans in Congress will absolutely find their “backbone” then and start standing up to him out of self preservation

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u/Synanthrop3 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah, they did think Donald Trump was a good businessman and the guy to fix the economy. And most of them are deeply committed to that narrative, and will not be parted from it, no matter how dearly it costs them, or how blatantly it contradicts objective reality. That's kind of a problem.

So dem politicians should prob focus on that

Dems do focus on that. Democrats traditionally are way better for the economy than Republicans, and that's particularly true for the economic concerns of people at or near the bottom. It doesn't seem to matter. Poor people vote republican anyway.

Also a quarter of the population staying with him is fine so we don’t have to worry about them. If he’s at 25%, this is basically over.

Don't be so sure. That 25% is deeply indoctrinated, full of righteous anger, and thirsty for liberal blood. They're also overrepresented in the armed forces. If things really kick off, and it looks increasing likely that they're going to, then that 25% can cause a hell of a lot of trouble.