Bob Schwartz

CBS/YouGov Poll – August 21-23, 2020:

In evaluating the U.S. efforts against the coronavirus pandemic, do you consider the number of U.S. fatalities from coronavirus so far to be Acceptable or Unacceptable

Total: 31% Acceptable/69% Unacceptable

Democrat: 10% Acceptable/90% Unacceptable

Republican: 57% Acceptable/43% Unacceptable

The number of U.S. coronavirus fatalities so far is 175,000, with predictions that by the end of the year it will be 300,000 or more.

As striking as that Acceptable number is, it may not be the most significant number.

From the start of the Trump presidency, we have been trying to measure the “Trump base.” There have been many estimates, and like others, I have said that it was somewhere around 30%.

Now we have solid proof that this number is just about right. Separate from any judgments, merely acknowledging that some number of the deaths were preventable, if you believe that 175,000 Americans dead is “acceptable”, you are under the influence of some powerful force. And in this case, for that 31%, that force is Trump. They are the do-or-die base.

Knowing that the Trump base is 31% of Americans is valuable information. While it still doesn’t tell us anything definitive electorally, it does tell us, whoever wins, what we will be facing. One-third of America, however they were disposed before all this, now has a diametrically different vision of everything. This goes beyond the minority vision that Trump is somehow a good and effective president. It is an entirely different country than the other two-thirds lives in.

It’s going to be a bumpy–and for too many deadly–ride.