We can all agree that United Airlines has had a not good, very bad, straight up awful month. The airline hasn't had a chance to take a breath between the infamous viral video of a passenger being dragged off a plane, the PR disaster and possible lawsuit surrounding the incident, and the horrific anecdotes that seemed to spring up out of nowhere in the following days (scorpions falling from overhead bins! Drunk men sexually harassing passengers! Brides getting kicked off of flights!).
In fact, the airline announced it's making a ton of changes to make flying with them a better experience. But if it's any consolation for United, they might not be the most disliked folks out there: A new survey from the left-leaning Public Policy Polling found United Airlines is slightly more popular than President Trump. Yep, the famously hated airline is a tiny bit more liked than the president of the United States.
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Those surveyed in the new poll were asked, "Which do you have a higher opinion of: United Airlines or Donald Trump?" About 42% of the respondents chose United, 40% chose the president, and 18% said they were not sure. (It is a difficult question, all right.)
These findings shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's been following the president's approval ratings in the last couple of months. According to Gallup, Trump's average rating in his first quarter has been the lowest ever when compared to every other elected president in his first term since World War II.
As of April 19, Trump's average approval rating was a low 41%. That's 22 points lower than President Obama (whose first-quarter average rating was 63%) and 17 points lower than President George W. Bush (whose approval averaged 58%). Before Trump, President Bill Clinton used to have the previous low mark with a 55% average approval rating.
United Airlines might be celebrating that it's a little less hated than the president, but that doesn't mean its troubles are over. The same survey by Public Policy Polling found that 40% of those surveyed believe United is the worst airline in the country.
Will United Airlines and President Trump shake the bad mojo and make the court of public opinion fall in love with them in the following months? As of now, that seems unlikely. But hey, stranger things have happened.
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