Politics And Investing: Keep Them Separate

A popular chart making the rounds today is this one from Gallup, which shows the daily tracking of President Trump’s approval and disapproval ratings.  As shown, just ahead of grand jury indictments concerning former members of his campaign staff, the President’s approval rating is sinking like JC Penney’s, while his disapproval rating looks closer to Apple as it just broke out to new highs.

While these charts always make for some good conversation, their utility stops right about there, especially when it comes to the market. The chart compares the performance of the S&P 500 throughout Trump’s Presidency to his approval rating. Even as Trump’s popularity plumbs new lows, the S&P 500 has been going in the exact opposite direction. Sure, the President may be unpopular, and based on his approval ratings there’s only a one in three chance that anyone reading this approves of the job he is doing. Like him or not, though, never let politics impact your investment decisions. Just as a lot of investors missed out on the bulk of this bull market because they didn’t care for President Obama and his policies, another group of different investors has likely missed out on another good year for the US equity market just because they don’t care for President Trump.