Trump: How Low Can He Go?

Trump has hit a new low in his job approval ratings. As the Washington Post notes:

On Sunday evening, a poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal indicated that Trump’s approval rating had hit a new low, sinking to 38 percent. More worrisome for the president? Since September, the drop was biggest among independents, whites and whites without a college degree — key components of the coalition that won Trump the White House. NBC and the Journal also reported that the 38 percent rating was lower than any other president had seen at a similar point in their first terms in the modern era.

On Monday, new data from Gallup reiterated that same message. In Gallup’s daily tracking poll, which looks at three days of national polling, Trump’s approval rating hit a new low of 33 percent and his disapproval a new high of 62 percent. The net approval — those who approve minus those who disapprove — hit a new low at minus-29.

The decline among working class whites is particularly noteworthy. Without strong support from these voters, Trump is in big trouble. This is a trend to watch.  

Science Fiction Saturday: SF Masterworks Series

The SF Masterworks series is a fantastic SF series put out by the English publisher Gollancz, generally of books published 1950 and later. Pretty much everything in the series--up to 162 books now--is excellent and many are outright classics. It's a very, very well-selected series; you really can't go wrong reading almost anything in it.

Here's a portion of the  list. Just throw a dart at it and start reading. (Note: all books in the series and more info on each book can be found in this illustrated list from the Worlds Without End site.)

Title	Author	Originally Published	ISBN	Masterworks Published
The Forever War *	Joe Haldeman	1974	978-0-575-09414-7	2010
I Am Legend *	Richard Matheson	1954	978-0-575-09416-1	2010
Cities in Flight *	James Blish	1950–1962	978-0-575-09417-8	2010
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? *	Philip K. Dick	1968	978-0-575-09418-5	2010
The Stars My Destination *	Alfred Bester	1956	978-0-575-09419-2	2010
Babel-17 *	Samuel R. Delany	1966	978-0-575-09420-8	2010
Lord of Light *	Roger Zelazny	1967	978-0-575-09421-5	2010
The Fifth Head of Cerberus *	Gene Wolfe	1972	978-0-575-09422-2	2010
Gateway *	Frederik Pohl	1977	978-0-575-09423-9	2010
The Rediscovery of Man *	Cordwainer Smith	1950–1966	978-0-575-09424-6	2010
Inverted World	Christopher Priest	1974	978-0-575-08210-6	2010
Cat's Cradle **	Kurt Vonnegut	1963	978-0-575-08195-6	2010
Childhood's End **	Arthur C. Clarke	1953	978-0-575-08235-9	2010
The Island of Doctor Moreau **	H. G. Wells	1896	978-0-575-09516-8 (hb) / 978-1-473-21799-7 (pb)	2010 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
Dhalgren	Samuel R. Delany	1974	978-0-575-09099-6	2010
The Time Machine * **	H. G. Wells	1895	978-0-575-09517-5 (hb) / 978-1-473-21797-3 (pb)	2010 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
Helliconia	Brian Aldiss	1982–1985	978-0-575-08615-9	2010
The Food of the Gods **	H. G. Wells	1904	978-0-575-09518-2 (hb) / 978-1-473-21801-7 (pb)	2010 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
The Body Snatchers	Jack Finney	1955	978-0-575-08531-2	2010
The Female Man	Joanna Russ	1975	978-0-575-09499-4	2010
Arslan	M. J. Engh	1976	978-0-575-09501-4	2010
The Difference Engine	William Gibson and Bruce Sterling	1990	978-0-575-09940-1	2011
The Prestige	Christopher Priest	1995	978-0-575-09941-8	2011
Greybeard	Brian Aldiss	1964	978-0-575-07113-1	2011
Sirius	Olaf Stapledon	1944	978-0-575-09942-5	2011
Hyperion	Dan Simmons	1989	978-0-575-09943-2	2011
City	Clifford D. Simak	1952	978-0-575-10523-2	2011
Hellstrom's Hive	Frank Herbert	1973	978-0-575-10108-1	2011
Of Men and Monsters	William Tenn	1968	978-0-575-09944-9	2011
R.U.R. and War with the Newts	Karel Čapek	1921 & 1936	978-0-575-09945-6	2011
The Affirmation	Christopher Priest	1981	978-0-575-09946-3	2011
Floating Worlds	Cecelia Holland	1975	978-0-575-10823-3	2011
Rogue Moon	Algis Budrys	1960	978-0-575-10800-4	2012
Dangerous Visions	Harlan Ellison	1967	978-0-575-10802-8	2012
Odd John	Olaf Stapledon	1935	978-0-575-07224-4	2012
The Fall of Hyperion	Dan Simmons	1990	978-0-575-09948-7	2012
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy**	Douglas Adams	1979	978-0-575-11534-7	2012
The War of the Worlds * **	H. G. Wells	1898	978-0-575-11535-4 (hb) / 978-1-473-21802-4 (pb)	2012 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
Synners	Pat Cadigan	1991	978-0-575-11954-3	2012
Sarah Canary	Karen Joy Fowler	1991	978-0-575-13136-1	2012
Ammonite	Nicola Griffith	1992	978-0-575-11823-2	2012
The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe	D. G. Compton	1973	978-0-575-11831-7	2012
Frankenstein	Mary Shelley	1818	978-0-575-09960-9	2012
Roadside Picnic *	Arkady and Boris Strugatsky	1972	978-0-575-09313-3	2012
Riddley Walker **	Russell Hoban	1980	978-0-575-11951-2	2012
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis	1992	978-0-575-13109-5	2012
Unquenchable Fire	Rachel Pollack	1988	978-0-575-11854-6	2012
The Caltraps of Time	David I. Masson	1968	978-0-575-11828-7	2012
Engine Summer	John Crowley	1979	978-0-575-08281-6	2013
Take Back Plenty	Colin Greenland	1990	978-0-575-11952-9	2013
Slow River	Nicola Griffith	1995	978-0-575-11825-6	2013
The Gate to Women's Country	Sheri S. Tepper	1988	978-0-575-13104-0	2013
The Sea and Summer	George Turner	1987	978-0-575-11869-0	2013
The Invisible Man * **	H. G. Wells	1897	978-0-575-11537-8 (hb) / 978-1-473-21798-0 (pb)	2013 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
A Canticle for Leibowitz **	Walter M. Miller	1960	978-0-575-07357-9	2013
Wasp	Eric Frank Russell	1957	978-0-575-12904-7	2013
To Say Nothing of the Dog	Connie Willis	1997	978-0-575-11312-1	2013
The Gods Themselves	Isaac Asimov	1972	978-0-575-12905-4	2013
This Is the Way the World Ends	James Morrow	1985	978-0-575-08118-5	2013
The First Men in the Moon * **	H. G. Wells	1901	978-0-575-11538-5 (hb) / 978-1-473-21800-0 (pb)	2013 (hb) / 2017 (pb)
The Deep	John Crowley	1975	978-0-575-08264-9	2013
Time is the Fire: The Best of Connie Willis	Connie Willis	2013	978-0-575-13114-9	2013
No Enemy But Time	Michael Bishop	1982	978-0-575-09311-9	2013
Double Star	Robert A. Heinlein	1956	978-0-575-12203-1	2013
Revelation Space	Alastair Reynolds	2000	978-0-575-12906-1	2013
Random Acts of Senseless Violence	Jack Womack	1995	978-0-575-13230-6	2013
Transfigurations	Michael Bishop	1979	978-0-575-09309-6	2013
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe **	Douglas Adams	1980	978-1-473-20066-1	2013
The Door Into Summer	Robert A. Heinlein	1957	978-0-575-12072-3	2013
Life, the Universe and Everything **	Douglas Adams	1982	978-1-473-20067-8	2013
Dr. Bloodmoney *	Philip K. Dick	1965	978-1-473-20168-2	2014
Half Past Human	T. J. Bass	1971	978-0-575-12962-7	2014
The Long Tomorrow	Leigh Brackett	1955	978-0-575-13156-9	2014
The Godwhale	T. J. Bass	1974	978-0-575-12993-1	2014
Jem *	Frederik Pohl	1980	978-1-473-20170-5	2014
The Shrinking Man *	Richard Matheson	1956	978-1-473-20169-9	2014
A Case of Conscience *	James Blish	1958	978-1-473-20543-7	2014
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever	James Tiptree, Jr	1990	978-1-473-20324-2	2014
Stand on Zanzibar *	John Brunner	1968	978-1-473-20637-3	2014
Mission of Gravity *	Hal Clement	1954	978-1-473-20638-0	2014
The Word for World Is Forest	Ursula K. Le Guin	1976	978-1-473-20578-9	2015
Downward to the Earth *	Robert Silverberg	1970	978-1-473-21192-6	2015
Hard to Be a God	Arkady and Boris Strugatsky	1964	978-1-473-20829-2	2015
Night Lamp	Jack Vance	1996	978-1-473-20892-6	2015
Life During Wartime *	Lucius Shepard	1987	978-1-473-21193-3	2015
Nova *	Samuel R. Delany	1968	978-1-473-21191-9	2015
Monday Begins on Saturday	Arkady and Boris Strugatsky	1965	978-1-473-20221-4	2015
Dark Benediction *	Walter M. Miller	1951	978-1-473-21194-0	2015
The Wind's Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose	Ursula K. Le Guin	1975 and 1982	978-1-473-20576-5	2015
Dying of the Light	George R. R. Martin	1977	978-1-473-21252-7	2015
A Fire Upon the Deep	Vernor Vinge	1992	978-1-473-21195-7	2016
Norstrilia	Cordwainer Smith	1975	978-1-473-21253-4	2016
Limbo	Bernard Wolfe	1952	978-1-473-21247-3	2016
The Day of the Triffids **	John Wyndham	1951	978-1-473-21267-1	2016
Fairyland	Paul J. McAuley	1995	978-1-473-21516-0	2016
The Chrysalids **	John Wyndham	1955	978-1-473-21268-8	2016
The Man Who Fell to Earth	Walter Tevis	1963	978-1-473-21311-1	2016
Always Coming Home	Ursula K. Le Guin	1985	978-1-473-20580-2	2016
Feersum Endjinn **	Iain M. Banks	1994	978-1-473-20251-1	2016
A Deepness in the Sky	Vernor Vinge	1999	978-1-473-21196-4	2016
Starship Troopers **	Robert A. Heinlein	1959	978-1-473-21748-5	2016
The Midwich Cuckoos **	John Wyndham	1957	978-1-473-21269-5	2016
Swastika Night	Murray Constantine	1937	978-1-473-21466-8	2016
China Mountain Zhang	Maureen F. McHugh	1992	978-1-473-21462-0	2016
The Book of the New Sun Volume 1: Shadow and Claw	Gene Wolfe	1980–1981	978-1-473-21649-5	2016
The Book of the New Sun Volume 2: Sword and Citadel	Gene Wolfe	1982–1983	978-1-473-21200-8	2016
The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. Le Guin	1969	978-1-473-22162-8	2017
Neuromancer **	William Gibson	1984	978-1-473-21737-9	2017
The Shape of Things to Come	H. G. Wells	1933	978-1-473-22165-9	2017
The Doomed City	Arkady and Boris Strugatsky	1975	978-1-473-22228-1	2017
Raising the Stones	Sheri S. Tepper	1990	978-1-473-22265-6	2017
The Embedding	Ian Watson	1973	978-1-473-22267-0	2017