Social Studies Lab

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The Presidential Seal of Approval

The Presidential net approval rating is calculated as the number of people who approve of the job the president is doing minus the number of people who disapprove. In other words, if 70% say a president is doing a good job and 40% say the president is doing a bad job, the net approval rating would be at 30%. What is POTUS Trump's net approval rating?

NY Times

  1. How accurate was your prediction?

  2. What most surprised you about this data?

  3. What is the big story this graph tells?

  4. Why do you think Trump has a net negative approval rating already?

  5. What is one consequence of this negative net approval rating on the ability of Trump to get policy made and bills passed?

  6. How does Trump's negative net presidential approval rating compare to all the presidents since Eisenhower?

  7. Why do you think Trump's rating is so much lower than all the other post-WWII presidents?

  8. Which post-WWII president do you think had the highest net approval ratings?

  9. Before Trump, which post-WWII President do you think had the lowest net approval ratings?

  10. Over time, what is the general direction presidential approval ratings go?

  11. Based on past approval ratings trends what do you think Trump's net approval rating will be on day 100 of his presidency?

  12. Has your opinion of POTUS Trump changed since he became president?

  13. What would Trump have to do (bad or good) to change your opinion of him (bad or good)?

  14. President Trump will need a certain amount of Democratic party support to get bills passed through the House and Senate. Do you think that a president with a net negative approval rating will be likely to get support from across the aisle (from the Democrats)?

  15. A net approval rating consists of both Democratic and Republican opinion. Do you think Trump's low net approval rating is more a consequence of weak Republican approval or strong Democratic disapproval?*

  16. What single area of his presidency is most responsible for Trump's dismal net approval rating?*

  17. What do you think is one thing POTUS Trump could do to get more Democratic support?

  18. POTUS Trump has said that the polls measuring his approval are rigged and fake. Do you find that assertion credible? Do you think Gallup polling (the data used for this poll) was faked?

Learning Extension

Click on this interactive graph to see how each of the presidents' approval ratings fared over their first 100 days.

Action Extension

Help us educated the POTUS (operation POTUS.edu) Contact the White House and share the data regarding his net approval rating. Offer the President one thing he could do to increase his net approval rating.

Bonus Charts*