Trump And The GE Cures The Varsity Blues took place May 8th in New York City. The event featured Akil Bello (Director of Equity and Access, The Princeton Review), John McLaughlin (McLaughlin & Associates), Shock Exchange and Christopher Townley (Brooklyn land baron). The elite college admissions scandal – Operation Varsity Blues – has rocked the country and dominated the 24 hour news cycle. Wealthy parents have been accused of paying hefty sums to consultants and “fixers” to help students cheat on college entrance exams, and of bribing coaches and administrators to facilitate kids’ admission by designating them as recruited athletes.
McLaughlin – the country’s top pollster – kicked off the event with a discussion of what recent polls say about President Trump’s re-election chances:
Every month we do a national published poll that’s separate and apart from any of the clients that the firm does when we publish it (mclaughlinonline.com) … In March we put out a series of numbers … since the State Of The Union the President’s numbers have been recovering … The economy’s been growing. At the State Of The Union he did a very good job putting out his policies. You have president here where a lot people say they don’t like his style, but they like his policies. You’ll get 40% to 45% of the people … we live in a post-partisan 911 era. People have been picking sides … when you look at past president you would say George Bush had a 51% job approval when he was up for re-election. On election day he had a 51% job approval and that’s what he won with.
President Obama … had a 51% job approval. After Hurricane Sandy he took charge and his numbers went up a little bit and he beat Mitt Romney 51% to 48% … In our last national poll he (Trump) was at 49% job approval, so he’s not far off from the job approval he needs to get re-elected.
McLaughlin shared a lot of information about the mood of the country and what it would take for Trump to get re-elected. The event started out collegial, but got heated later on. Stay tuned …
