Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
Whenever I go to the dentist the hygienist invariably asks: “Do you floss every day?”
If I looked at my record just from a few days preceding and a few following the appointment I could answer “Yes.”
But before or after, well, not so much.
Under the circumstances, with someone holding an exceedingly sharp instrument mere millimeters from my open mouth while I am in a defenseless position in a chair, I answer “Yes.”
In effect, the hygienist is conducting a survey of one.
Clearly those surveyed are not necessarily the most honest and forthcoming in their responses. It is necessary, therefore, to consider survey results with a large grain of salt (or a dislodged chunk of plaque).
But sometimes the numbers are so big even with caveats galore there has to be some veracity to the numbers calculated.
Which leads me to new Strength In Numbers/Verasight polling on how well our president is doing with regard to things Americans care about.
Again, realize the people answering the poll may not be fully forthcoming. But still, consider the magnitude.
Asked about how well President Trump is handling the issues the pollsters found the following:
- Border security: 0%
- Deportations: -12%
- Immigration: -12%
- Crime & public safety: -12%
Evidently the Wall that we no longer hear about has left people completely neutral, the whole ICE phenomenon is not making people particularly happy, and when you predicate your persona largely on being tough on crime (“Lock ‘em up!”) you might think the numbers would be above the net approval line, not below it.
•Education: -19%
Perhaps if more time was spent supporting our public schools and public and private universities, there would be some positive feelings. But no, the efforts all seem to be undermining and penalizing our educational institutions, and that is not going to make America great. Here’s something to think about: China graduates 1.3 million engineers each year while the US graduates 130,000. While some may argue the US graduate engineers are 10x better, that brings to mind whistling by the graveyard.
Look only at how the Chinese auto industry has developed in a matter of a few decades and now leads the West in terms of electric vehicles. Yes, we should eliminate grants to research universities because the president doesn’t like their politics.
- Trade with other countries: -21%
Given the tariff situation, not bad. Not bad at all. But still underwater.
- Elections and democracy: -22%
Remarkable about how the President keeps talking about crooked elections. Doesn’t it occur to him or any of his acolytes and minions that the so-called “crooked” elections not only put him in office but put the Republicans in control of the House and Senate? If these elections are as corrupt as he claims. . . .
•Government funding & social programs: -22%
You don’t hear much about DOGE anymore, but a lot of people are feeling the results of it, and those feelings aren’t good.
- Foreign policy: -23%
Again, something surprisingly strong. Doesn’t foreign policy seem to be predicated on the president’s social media posts, and change from one to another? Diplomats? Who needs ‘em when you have real estate guys like Kushner and Witkoff? (Consider: those two know as much about geopolitics as my dental hygienist likely knows about New York real estate. Would it be fair to put her up against those two guys in a negotiation? So why does it seem sensible to put Kushner and Witkoff up against people who actually are trained in foreign policy?)
•Jobs & the economy: -25%
Wasn’t the President going to make the economy grow in a way that no one would believe it? Sure, Wall Street is doing remarkably well — but that’s largely predicated on the success of the tech companies and the massive investments in artificial intelligence. Think about this: The aforementioned cuts in research programs at US research universities as well as those made to federal scientific research programs, programs in the pre-Trump days that led to things like successful tech companies and AI, are going to put the US behind in the not-distant future. But Trump will be gone, so he doesn’t care.
•Health care: -28%
If you remember when Trump ran for president in 2016 excoriating Obamacare was something he frequently did, promising to create something far, far better. Clearly we’re still waiting. “Promises kept” was one of the 2024 campaign lines. Perhaps the “n” should be dropped from the final word in the previous sentence.
•Prices/inflation: -47%
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.
“America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have — the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth — and we are going to use it. We’ll use it.
“We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world.
“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”
That’s from the January 20, 2025, Inaugural Address.
Let’s see.
Inflation is up.
- Energy prices are up, and the Strategic Oil Reserve is being tapped, not filled.
- Manufacturing employment was 12.66 million in April 2025 and 12.59 million in April 2026.
Even if the people answering the questions of the pollsters were fudging things, being down 47% is a huge number, and the facts on the ground — as in what people are experiencing every time they go to the gas station and supermarket — show we are not in the Golden Age that was promised.
Far from it.