Perceptions of Trump, 1 month in

and some reflections on oral culture and writing

Our latest national Marquette Law School Poll once again included open-ended questions asking respondents what they like and dislike about Donald Trump.

In this survey, taken about a month in Trump’s second term, 14% only list things they like about Trump, 36% only list dislikes, and 47% offer a mixed view. In December, 51% held a mixed view.

As you might expect, those who only mention dislikes are near-unanimous in giving Trump a negative job approval rating and vice versa for those who list only positive attributes. This is unchanged from December, when we asked how each person approved of Trump’s job performance in his first term.

However, Trump’s job approval fell by 10 points, from 77% to 67%, among those sharing a mixed view of Trump in the open-ended data. We’ll keep tracking this statistic in the months to come.

You can explore the open-ended results in this web tool, and I recommend doing so. In the linked document, I summarize the themes which stood out to me. You might draw different conclusions from reading them.

Setting aside the content of the responses, I was struck by their form. Bluntly, most of them are written very badly. Chalk this up as evidence that we are moving to a more oral mass culture.

I say this because, (1) the grammar in the responses is so poor that it can be tough to catch the intended meaning, but (2) the writing often follows the cadence of oral speech. If I imagine those answers being spoken, they’re easier to follow.

I draw a couple conclusions from this.

If you’re writing, recognize that you’re writing for a specialized audience. There is no longer a mass market for written English, so dumbing it down will just irritate the readers who remain. They’re still reading because the written word is what they prefer.

Second, I think Trump might’ve won because he’s so much better at speaking than either Biden or Harris. Biden struggles with all forms of speaking, but both of them particularly struggle with the sort of informal-conversational register most popular these days.

I’ve long noticed that transcripts of Trump’s unscripted remarks are tough to follow, but the meaning is clear when you hear the original recording. Judging by these open-ended responses from a random sample of American adults, more and more people express themselves in that register, even in writing.