Trump's 2020 polling numbers are a disaster. Why doesn't his press coverage reflect that?

[highplainsdem]

New column from Eric Boehlert (formerly with Media Matters and Salon).

I thought about posting this in GD because so much of it is about press coverage of Trump, but since there's also a lot about Biden I decided to post it here rather than risk seeing it locked in GD, possibly after a lot of replies.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/1/1882368/-Trump-s-2020-polling-numbers-are-a-disaster-Why-doesn-t-his-press-coverage-reflect-that

The Beltway press has spent years normalizing many things about Donald Trump's radical presidency. Now it seems to be normalizing Trump's disastrous polling numbers on the eve of his re-election run. Any other incumbent in his lowly polling position would likely be getting hammered by the pundit class as it dubbed his presidency a failure. But not Trump.

In a jarring new poll last week, Quinnipiac revealed that Trump currently trails Democratic front-runner Joe Biden by a whopping 16 points, and trails all the leading Democratic candidates by wide margins. Trump struggles to get above 40% support against key Democrats in the new survey. And, "For the first time since President Trump was elected, more voters say that the national economy is getting worse than getting better," Quinnipiac reported.

-snip-

Note that this see-no-evil coverage comes just weeks after the press tried mightily to prop Trump up and falsely portrayed him as a president enjoying surging popularity. "Trump reaches highest approval rating of presidency in latest poll," NBC News recently announced. '"Poll: Trump's approval rating hits highest point of presidency,"The Hill insisted. "President Trump's job approval rating reaches high mark in NPR/PBS/Marist poll after racist tweets," USA Today proclaimed. And while noting his polling at a soft 44%, The Washington Post stressed that Trump had a real path toward re-election.

-snip-

For a sitting president in his 10th quarter in office, the average approval rating is 52%, according to Gallup's analysis. Trump currently sits near 44%. So why was the press so impressed by his middling showings? Trump has rewritten the record books in terms of ratings for a permanently unpopular president, yet the news media cheered when he temporarily inched up to 44% approval.

But here's the context that really illuminates the hypocrisy of the current Trump coverage and his dismal 2020 polling numbers: Back in 2011, as President Barack Obama eyed his own re-election bid, the campaign press raised all kinds of alarms about his prospects when polls showed him tied with likely Republican opponents. "Barack Obama's hopes of re-election to the White House next year took a knock on Tuesday with the publication of a poll showing him in a surprise dead heat with one of his Republican rivals, Mitt Romney,"The Guardian warned in 2011, dubbing the survey results a "shock poll."

-snip-

Despite that torrent of bad news, The New York Times recently published a front-page piece claiming that it was Biden who was suffering polling woes. Yes, the same Biden who has a 16-point lead over Trump, according to Quinnipiac. Specifically, the Times claimed that Biden suffered from a lack of "enthusiasm" among Democratic supporters. In other words, Biden was leading, but he wasn’t leading the right way, the Times suggested.

Question: Would most candidates rather be up 16 points against the sitting incumbent president and suffer a so-called enthusiasm gap, or trail the incumbent but be awarded enthusiastic support?

-snip-

[RobertDevereaux]

1. Since this particular article only mentions Biden vs. Nazi numbers (54 - 38)...

It’s useful to draw at least these from the poll cited and linked to:

- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders topping Trump 53 - 39 percent;
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ahead of Trump 52 - 40 percent;
- California Sen. Kamala Harris beating Trump 51 - 40 percent;
- South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg leading with 49 percent to Trump's 40 percent.

[highplainsdem]

2. Boehlert was writing about our strongest candidate against Trump, and his best numbers against

Trump to date, and how strange it is that the media isn't paying an appropriate amount of attention to that.

Yes, there are polls where several Democratic candidates are shown beating Trump.

Just as there are polls where only Biden, or only Biden and Sanders, or only Biden, Sanders and Warren, beat Trump.

I've even seen polls where all our candidates lose to Trump.

But the most consistent thing about all those polls is that in almost all of them, Biden is shown doing better against Trump than the other Democratic candidates.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Corporate Media was and is all in with

Trump. Doubt it,look no further than Sinclair Broadcasting. They appear to be doing a Hearst Job on the unsuspecting dupes in the USA. Sadly the Dupes have no clue. Even though their numbers seem to be dropping.

[LincolnRossiter]

4. The MSM wants a horse race and will push a "close race" narrative even if it kills them.

We’ll even get to see them do things to actually tighten the race (see their coverage of Hillary in 2016).

[Cha]

7. Even if it "kills them" and us is

an apt description.

[peggysue2]

5. Harry Enten did an analysis . . .

for CNN on those numbers. Pretty astounding. Trump's numbers are worse than any incumbent seeking reelection since WWII. Most had the advantage of 10-11 points over their rivals. Trump is losing to Biden from anywhere to 10-16 points. He's also losing to other Democratic contenders.

So the question really is: why is the media playing coy when the numbers are so revealing?

I'd guess because they want a horserace for the eyeballs, the click-bait, the revenue. And they don't want to lose WH access when the stories generated are so juicy and appealing to their readership. Again, the eyeball, the click-bait, the revenue. There's also this 'balanced/objectivity' schtick used to support a good deal of political reporting, the pretense that Donald Trump is anything less than a frigging disaster, a man who has no problem using racist/bigoted language if it serves a purpose, a man who is ignorant and incompetent.

But he's great TV! Which is one of the reasons we're in this mess.

In answer to the question:

Would most candidates rather be up 16 points against the sitting incumbent president and suffer a so-called enthusiasm gap, or trail the incumbent but be awarded enthusiastic support?

WINNING IS EVERYTHING for 2020. Answers itself!

[Cha]

8. As they should be with

him trying to kill America and her people and all.

Except for his toadies.

[Dopers_Greed]

6. Compare the numbers to this time last year

Trump had some of the best numbers of his President during the midterms, and the GOP still got trounced.

Hopefully this downward trend holds. We need to be ahead by 30. The GOP is going to deploy every dirty trick, and then some, next year.