There’s nothing like bombing the shit out of something to bump up your approval ratings. As shown below, Donald Trump is familiar with the concept. And it almost always works – even the historically unpopular Trump got a small boost from the pre-disclosed (to the Russians of course) cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase. Fivethirtyeight has Trump’s composite approval/disapproval ratings now at 41.5% approval against 52.5% disapproval – still a negative 11 point spread. The numbers may be somewhat skewed by the outlier Ipsos poll which has Trump with a favorable 2 point spread.
Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.