The President: A leader of the whole country or a leader of his own party?

One of the main roles a president must take on is that of the leader, and representative of the entire United States. This includes being a domestic and foreign policy leader as well as standing as a symbol of the unity and strength for the entire country. Another role that is required of the president due to the bipartisan culture of the United States, is that of the party leader. While sometimes the demands of these roles can clash, trying to help your party by edging an advantage while also maintaining a position of total well being, often pushing for your own party’s stance on issues is what is believed to be for the good of the whole country.

In the 2017 Virginia Governor’s race, the democratic candidate, Ralph Northam defeated Republican candidate, Ed Gillespie. A popular opinion after this election is that this democratic win along with many other small wins for democrats, are a response to Trump. Pennsylvania representative, Charlie Dent, believes “Voters are taking their anger out at the president, and the only way they can do that is by going after Republicans on the ballot” (New York Times). Donald Trump who has a low 37% approval rating (gallup), is being deemed the leader of the Republican party causing people to vote the other way as they reject him.

Not only is Trump struggling to maintain an image that accurately depicts and unifies the public but he is now hurting his party and their chances of maintaining control in congress. While it can be difficult for Presidents to juggle their own party’s interest and the whole country’s interests it seems that Donald Trump is in fact struggling to do both separately resulting in bad individual approval ratings and backlash towards his fellow Republicans. It is quite clear that the country is extremely divided but is Donald Trump fueling the divisive culture in his own party as well as the whole country, or is he fulfilling the role he was chosen for?

http://news.gallup.com/poll/201617/gallup-daily-trump-job-approval.aspx

5 Responses to "The President: A leader of the whole country or a leader of his own party?"

Margaret Castelli says:

November 27, 2017 at 2:30 pm

The consideration that the president is the leader of the country and his party is an important one to note. In the United States, today we are struggling so much with bipartisanship, and if the president who is supposed to be our bipartisan leader is also the head of his party, this makes this goal of compromise seem almost unobtainable. In response to your post, however, I would like to note the importance of the ability to vote against the president’s party. This is how the voters, American citizens, tell the government what they want and how they are feeling. You noted President Trump’s dismal approval ratings from a Gallup poll, but the most effective and true way for the government (and the president) to gauge what all Americans are feeling is through voting. Though the partisanship being created by the presidency (especially under the current administration) definitely has negative effects over the government, the American people’s ability to show their distaste with the president by voting against his party is a perfect act of expressing their public opinion.
Seyoum Settepani says:

November 27, 2017 at 3:54 pm

the vote is a direct line to the government that tells them how we the people are feeling, one of voting’s purpose besides getting someone elected, is the depiction of the public mood. I think that because President Trump is not doing a great job at being a bipartisan leader there is going to be backlash on coming from booth parties especially the democrats a way of showing their displeasure is through the elections of there sate leaders. Trump is going to take not of this, hopefully he does something to improve his approval rate.
Spencer Yacos says:

November 28, 2017 at 12:02 pm

Trump is doing an atrocious job being a “bipartisan” leader to the global world. He consistently brings up partisan politics and petty quarrels while he travels internationally, and even on successful trips (like the recent one to Asia) he is still dogged by the Russia probe allegations that can seep their way through the diplomatic goodwill an international tour is meant to provide. Some may argue that it is impossible to be a “bipartisan” leader in this day and age, especially as the president is the leader of one of the two major parties and is guaranteed to have an opposition. Although the president is partisan at home, abroad he is expected to speak of unity and goodwill – not about the politics that divide the nation he rules. Speaking of such partisanship exposes the nation as fractured on a world stage, and is something our geopolitical enemies no doubt take note of.
Lauren Toth says:

November 28, 2017 at 12:56 pm

The view of the American people about the president is constantly in change. We seem to be dynamically split on the approval ratings depending on every action the president makes and every story the news releases. As we were talking about in class today, Trump may be seen as the leader of America and his party, but in actuality it’s only some of america and some of the party. Trump is constantly in battle with not only the people opposed to his actions, but even people in his own party. There have been countless stories of either Trump attacking a fellow party members and being attacked by his own as well. While he may be pleasing one faction of the party in some aspects, the others try to separate themselves from Trump and claim Trump’s ideology is not the same as their own. With these representatives representing Americans, the question arises if this discontent of the political leaders with trump’s actions carry over to the American people. While the leaders may not support Trump but their constituents approve of him, it creates a disconnect between the two groups. According to gallup, 81% of Americans who identify as Republican approve of Trump and only 7% of Democrats approve. As hypothesized here, if it is true that voters are mobilizing to vote against Trump by voting against republicans, it must be true that either the democrats are gathering great support from voters, or the republicans have less a sense of duty because they are content and are thus having a lower turnout. In the end, anytime Trump’s name is used there is sure to be some disagreement between party members and the American people. It is common for any president to have this backlash but Trump’s is magnified by the controversy created from his ways and the disapproval of a diversity of people.

http://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx
Emily Dunbar says:

November 28, 2017 at 9:34 pm

This is a very interesting point that you brought up. The President should not be leading his party but the whole country. Trump has gotten a lot of backlash for the things that he has said and brought up. He has brought up many small issues pertaining to the Republican Party and not really closely overseeing the whole country. This is putting a bad taste in the mouths of Americans who see Republican representatives as detrimental due to Trump and his actions. It is very true, and we can see it through many state elections. People are turning to the Democratic Party since so many people see the Republican Party as controlled by Trump. If Trump would become a more bipartisan president, then we would see that this backlash against the whole Republican Party was due to Trump and his partisan presidency. The President is supposed to be a respected strong leader and Trump represents neither in the eyes of most American which is affecting the support for the Republican Party.

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