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Unknown A
Donald Trump just became the most unpopular president in 70 years and it matters. Now I know many people like to say these people don't care about polls, theyl do whatever they want. It doesnt matter. I disagree. Let me explain. Donald Trump loves to talk about ratings. His TV ratings, his rally crowd sizes, his record breaking presidency, his polling, his other size elements. But here is one record that he is not going to be bragging about, which is that he is now the most unpopular President in 70 years at this point in his term. Mid to late February of the first year of the term, Gallup puts Trump's approval at 45%. That is 15 points lower than the historical average for February of year one, dating all the way back to 1953. Even Bill Clinton, who had the previous record for the lowest mid February approval, was still at 51%.
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Unknown A
JFK was at 72% at this point in his term. Even Jimmy Carter, who is widely considered a weak incumbent, was at 71% approval in mid to late February of year one. And if you think oh well, the Gallup poll must just be an outlier, you are wrong. The Washington Post Ipsos poll finds also that Trump is at 45%. Now of course, Trump will call this fake news because that's what he does. But there is a problem for Republicans here. Even if Trump doesn't care about his terrible approval rating, which we know he does, right? But he'll convince himself and others. You can't believe the data. The number could have massive consequences for the 2026 midterms, which is what is now in focus. Historically, you would expect Republicans not to do well in November of 26th. That tends to be what happens when a party takes the White House.
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Unknown A
They then don't do well in the next midterm. Trump's entire political movement is based on controlling the narrative. And we've already seen what he does when the facts don't go his way. He attacks, he intimidates and he tries to threaten people. Look at what happened to pollster and Sellzer, one of the most respected pollsters in the country. She got it wrong when it came to Iowa in 2024. And Trump has already targeted her for daring to put out a report that he didn't like. She was wrong, no doubt about it. But now he is targeting her. If Trump and his allies get their way, polling firms are going to stop taking surveys that involve polling people about Republican activities. Media outlets that are already afraid of lawsuits and harassment and physical threats from MAGA extremists are going to Self censor. And that's what they want.
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Unknown A
The result will be that Americans will only see manufactured polls designed to boost Trump in the Republican Party. The real data will be buried, discredited, or never even generated. And this is not just polling, because for years people have warned about billionaire control of the media. This is where we are right now. Oligarchs own almost every major legacy corporate media outlet and they are gobbling up social media. It's not paranoia, it's happening in real time. Look at mainstream coverage of Trump and the same washing we've seen of the Republican Party networks shying away from calling him an authoritarian down the Republican election sabotage. And even newspapers that were once reliably critical of Trump now platform his enablers in the name of balance. And when you look on social media, you see the left wing content punished, independent news outlets punished and deprioritized like us. And meanwhile, the right wing content is being artificially boosted.
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Unknown A
You really think Tucker's interviews get 500 million views on X? Of course not. It's that they're forced into people's feeds and if the video plays for two seconds as you scroll by, it's counted as a view. This is what they're doing. We know that it is. And so the solution is the opposition needs to build its own information network. This is why we're trying to grow the audio podcast on Spotify and Apple. This is why we're pushing to 3 million subscribers. This is why we're working with all of our cohort, Brian Tyler Cohen and Midas Touch and smaller creators, and trying to really build this thing. Because we need the independent financial backing for independent journalism and commentary. And I am cautiously optimistic that we're starting to see interest in that. But here's the brutal truth. Few Americans are willing to pay for alternatives to the corporate stuff.
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Unknown A
Americans got used to free journalism and all these channels that just show up with my cable subscription. Even if you don't know you're sending Fox News three bucks a month through that cable subscription. So what we're up against it is s a lot of people when I say, hey, what about seven bucks a month or threel 50amonth if you use one of the coupon codes. A lot of people say, I'm just not used to paying. I'll just watch it on YouTube for free. Without the financial backing, independent media will be doomed. And MAGA loves to brag about how they are the ones that are really putting out the quality stuff. And they love to whine about censorship. But who's really being silenced. It's not them, it's their critics. We've seen media figures fired a sideline for being too critical of Trump. And this is what an authoritarian movement does.
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Unknown A
It doesn't need official state censorship. It just makes speaking the truth dangerous. And so that's the direction we are heading in here. We are going to continue pushing with everybody that's doing what we do, and if they are determined to silence, then we are going to be very loud about it. In the meantime, the polling data could be very bad news for Republicans in November of 2026. And here's the big caveat. If Democrats know how to take advantage of it, I'm not convinced they do. But I will keep pushing them in every single interview we do. We've got another couple next week that I think will be interesting. We've got a great bonus show for you today. If you don't currently get the bonus show, why not sign up@joinpacman.com commt Also, many free ways to support our work. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
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Unknown A
Subscribe free on YouTube YouTube.com the David Paakkmanshow we will see you on the bonus show and I will be right back here tomorrow. Well, I wrote a book. After a long journey and a ton of work, I am really thrilled with how it turned out and I hope you'll read it. The book is called the Echo Machine and in a nutshell, it looks at how American politics got so broken, who has already figured out solutions, and how we can try to fix it and stop the terror of Trump for the next four years. With Trump winning this election, the Echo Machine couldn't be more relevant. Not only a warning about how we got here, but also about what might be coming and how to prevent the worst outcomes. We've got to stay engaged. We need a plan and that's what the book is about. There's a belief out there that unless you have corporate media behind you, you can't have a successful political book launch, that it's not possible.
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Unknown A
I think we can prove that wrong. Order the Echo machine today@davidpakkman.com Echo on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Audible, Kindle, anywhere that books, ebooks and audio books are sold. You can also call any local bookstore and say, please order me the Echo Machine by David Packman. Wherever you get the book, you'll get the free pre order perks, including the signed book. Platate head to davidpakman.com freebookstuff after ordering.