Nobody thinks more highly of himself than Donald Trump, so it has to hurt to learn that Americans are turned off by all he touches.
MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin tweeted the painful news:
Nearly 50%of Americans are less likely to use a product endorsed by Trump.
29% would actively boycott that product: https://t.co/39XqY79xYG pic.twitter.com/U8DQfuL67w
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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 10, 2017
This is sort of the opposite of a Midas touch, where all Trump touches would turn to gold. That is no doubt what he had hoped for. Melania has already made public her desire to cash-in on her husband’s presidency. Unfortunately for the guy who claims to be the world’s best businessman, all he touches would appear to turn to dross instead.
As NBC News reports,
When Donald Trump won the Oval Office, critics worried he would use his elevated stature to enhance his personal power to pick winners and losers by endorsing products. But new consumer survey data from Simmons Research suggest the Trump presidency may be having the opposite effect on the Trump brand.
Republicans might claim in response that Democrats are largely responsible for the numbers that show 78 percent of Americans say they would not use, or even boycott, a product endorsed by Donald Trump.
However, even 34 percent of Republicans would not use, or even boycott a product endorsed by Trump while only 31 percent say they would be more likely to use that product.
Trump is no more fortunate where Independents are concerned, with overwhelming numbers expressing their disapproval of Trump-endorsed products.
According to Simmons scientist Steven Millman, “A strong association between Trump and a brand is likely to be damaging to the brand, unless its consumers are strong conservative.”
Trump, of course, will no doubt call “fake news” on any such polling. However, given the uniquely for-profit nature of his presidency, claims of fake news will not protect him from the impact on his pocketbook – or the profit margins of companies unfortunate enough to find themselves favorites of Donald Trump.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
