AMERICAN OPTIMISM RETURING – AT 9:31 A.M. Many pollsters see the right track/wrong track survey as key to understanding where America is politically.  It measures whether Americans think the country is on the right track or wrong track, and the judgments are often tough.  From Rasmussen: 

Forty-four percent (44%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey for the week ending November 21.

This week’s finding is up three points from last week and is the highest level of optimism since early September. This finding has been running in the 40s for most weeks this year after being in the mid- to upper 20s for much of 2016, President Obama's last full year in office.

COMMENT:  It's remarkable how the mainstream press keeps referring to Trump as unpopular, a label it never applied to Obama.  And yet, polling places Trump equal to or above Obama at this point in their presidencies. 

The president is actually reasonably popular.  He is on a fairly stable path to re-election.

However, there are danger signs.  I am starting to see a certain weariness, even among his supporters, over Mr. Trump's awkward statements, his unnecessary harshness, and his refusal to give detailed, thoughtful explanations for his policies.  Even Victor Davis Hanson, one of the president's strongest supports in the academic world and on the internet, has expressed frustration.  Mr. Trump has a self-destructive streak.  And his ego often overwhelms him.

So far, the president has survived his own personal faults.  But in the face of a personally attractive Democratic candidate in 2020, that may change.

Mr. Trump can start by delivering a presidential address to the nation, from the Oval Office, on the subject of immigration.  No insults.  No personal attacks.  Thoroughly presidential.  It will help him, and help his cause.

November 28,  2018