President Trump's approval rating is now equal to where Obama's was at the same point in his presidency.

What?  You hadn't heard about that?  Funny how the mainstream media keep forgetting to report this kind of news.  But here it is, from Investor's Business Daily:

Popularity: President Trump can't get a break from negative press coverage, but somehow his approval rating continues to edge upward.  In fact, it's now tied with where the "extremely popular" President Obama was at this point in his first term.

The latest Gallup poll puts Trump's job approval at 45%.  That's the highest it's been since he took office, and it's up from 37% at the start of the year.  Although you'd barely know it from the press Trump gets, his approval number has been on a slow but relatively steady rise all year.

Not only that, but Trump's approval in this poll is now equal to Obama's at the same point in Obama's presidency.  Gallup had Obama at 45% approval by late June 2010.

Yet it's news, and not just spot news, but part of an extended pattern.  As Rick Moran noted here, another Gallup poll reports that Americans' satisfaction with the direction of the country is the highest it's been since 2005.  From that, Rick noted:

The transient news of the day is not as important as trends.  This is a trend, and it favors the GOP.  It's more evidence that the "Blue Wave" predicted almost since Trump took office may be a mirage come November.

Enter President Trump, the man the media insist is beyond awful, and sure enough, his popularity is matching that of Obama at the same point in Obama's presidency.

Here's the interesting part, as observed by Investor's Business Daily's editorial: while Obama's approval was steadily falling throughout his first term, Trump's has been edging up since October.

More interesting still, Trump's numbers are going up despite overwhelmingly negative press coverage and relentless attacks from pundits and celebrities, while Obama's was going down despite the hero-worship he received.

The IBD editorial has all kinds of interesting gleanings from this poll that the mainstream press wouldn't be caught dead reporting.

Is it possible that the public is smarter than liberals in the press give it credit for?

Image Credit: Michael Vadon, CC SA-BY 4.0 International.