What did Donald Trump do today?

He decided he and his policies were very popular.

Much of Trump's 4.5-hour workday today was spent insisting that his demands that schools reopen full-time no matter what. He held a public event (titled "Kids First") with parents who he invited to praise his stance on the issue. (Trump sends his own youngest son to a school that will not be reopening.)

The end of the transcript caught a reporter trying to ask him a question as he left:

Q: Mr. President? Mr. President, what do you say to the families that are not — that don’t feel safe with their kids going back to school?

TRUMP: We’ll (inaudible). We’ll talk about it (inaudible) a little while. Too much respect for these people to discuss anything. Okay?

Coincidentally, a new poll on the subject was released today. It showed 59% of voters disapprove of fully reopening schools. For suburban voters, 60% were opposed.

Trump also declared that those same suburban voters—or at least the "housewives" among them—would be voting for him in November because his ending an anti-discrimination program would result in "low-income" people "invading" their neighborhoods. 

Trump doesn't really try to hide that by "low-income" he means non-white. He continues to insist that African-American Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) would somehow be put in charge if the anti-discrimination rule were reinstated. At a press conference today, he made it explicit:

Q: What do you mean by invasion into suburbs if Joe Biden is elected?

Trump: "They're going to be opening up areas of your neighborhood. For many reasons they're going to in my opinion destroy suburbia. So you understand, 30%+ of the people living in suburbia are minorities." pic.twitter.com/ZgFZwPcO6I

— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) August 12, 2020

In the real world, "suburban" isn't the same as white and wealthy, but that's not why Trump is wrong. He's losing every category of women in most polls: white, nonwhite, wealthy, working-class, with or without college education. 66% of suburban women disapprove of his performance in office, and an average of polls taken since June show Joe Biden with a 23% edge among women.

Why is this a problem?

• One way to get voters to support you is to not have policies a clear majority of them hate.

• Saying you're popular doesn't make you popular.