Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump getting permanently banned from Twitter. Unlike Marjorie Taylor Greene, he didn’t have another account on the platform he could use. Since then, the service has been a little less hectic. After all, it meant the most powerful person in the world could no longer destabilize global affairs through the power of his rage tweets. The ban was widely praised at the time, but it may have had an adverse effect: It may have made him more likable.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal (in a bit sussed out by Raw Story) speaks with the former president’s current and former aides, some of which pointed to polling that strongly suggested Trump’s favorability improved once he could no longer run his mouth wildly with a couple clicks:
“One year after the violent riot in the Capitol, roughly 52% of Americans said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Trump compared with 43% who viewed him favorably, according to a FiveThirtyEight.com average of national polls. That 9-point gap compared with a nearly 20-point spread in Mr. Trump’s favorability rating a year earlier, according to the same polling average.”
Aides, WSJ reports, blamed the shift in popularity on his diminished social media presence. Time was, every day an already volatile president would spend the day and nights firing off provocative tweets, attacking his many enemies, spreading misinformation, even threatening global unrest. Even his supporters would tell pollsters they wished he would dial it back.
They got their wish. Now Trump periodically, but not frequently, releases some glorified press release that sometimes, but not always, go viral. He also had a blog, which he quickly abandoned.
What’s more, Trump — who continues to spread baseless lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election and who may run again in 2024 — is no longer such a hot topic on Twitter. Since his banishment, mentions of him have plummeted a whopping 88 percent. Of course, he’s also no longer president. So if you like this newer, less in-your-face Donald Trump, maybe you’ll want him to stay out of the 2024 presidential race.