In 2016 Donald Trump made history, by becoming the first person to be elected president with a net unfavorable rating. In 2024, he repeated that feat. But his opponents have not fared much better. American politics has turned distinctly negative in the last 10 years, and neither party has shown much interest in reversing that trend.

Trump’s favorability issues are well-known. He has rarely enjoyed a net favorable rating. With the exception of the brief inauguration honeymoon, Trump has been net negative his entire time as a candidate and as president. Yet he has taken two out of three elections, to the mass confusion of Democrats.

There should be no confusion. If the Democratic Party and its media allies would take a break from their all-consuming anti-Trump rage, they would see that their own team is not popular at all. Hillary Clinton was net negative for much of her campaign in 2016, and Kamala Harris hovered around break-even last year but was dragged down by the enormous unpopularity of Joe Biden.

This theme of unpopularity is not limited to presidential candidates; it is prevalent throughout American politics. The politicians who are not underwater with the public tend to have low name recognition. As name ID rises, as do negative perceptions.

In American politics, the more you know, the less you like.

Trump is doing surprisingly well, given his past polling. His favorability is in the same neighborhood as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama at the same point in their second........

© The Hill