Roaring economy isn't lifting Donald Trump approval rating. He has only himself to blame. A good economy isn't making Trump popular and probably never will. It's not in his DNA to be decent, classy or respectful of our fragile democracy.

Paul Brandus | Opinion columnist

What’s a guy have to do to be popular?

Unemployment is 3.9 percent. Gasoline prices are up, but at $2.84 (AAA’s national average), they still seem far from “ouch” territory. Retailers, restaurants and summer vacation spots say business is good. The stock market is once again touching all-time highs. On Wednesday, the government said the economy grew at a 4.2 percent pace in the second quarter — faster than first thought. It's the fifth best quarter in fact, for the last decade.

And yet, says an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, 62 percent of Americans say the nation is on the wrong track. As for the man at the top, President Donald Trump’s approval — as measured by the FiveThirtyEight average of all polls — is an anemic 41.5 percent.

When the economy’s this good, the president usually gets the credit. In 1999 and 2000, during the last two years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, the stock market was booming, gas was cheap, people had money to burn. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent. Sounds familiar, right? Yet Clinton’s approval was in the 60s, at times hitting 66 percent — 25 percentage points higher than Trump now.

Bad Trump numbers are good for Democrats

These numbers spell trouble as the November midterms approach. The president’s name won’t be on any ballot, but midterms are always about the man in the Oval Office. FiveThirtyEight and two closely watched political forecasters — the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and the Cook Political Report — all say the stage is set for a Democratic takeover of the House. This in turn could mean — as the president himself acknowledged on Fox News last week — that he could face impeachment next year.

Here’s the question: With the best economy we’ve seen in a generation, why is Trump reviled and disrespected by most of the country?

The answer lies within Trump himself. He is reviled and disrespected because he gives reason to revile and disrespect. His self-constructed dilemma is this: If he would just tone it down, take the high road, show, for once, that he is capable of class and decency and integrity and honesty, then his numbers would begin to inch up.

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But Trump can’t do these things because that’s not who he is. It’s not in his DNA to be honest. It’s not in his DNA to be decent. Just ask the family of the late Sen. John McCain, the Gold Star parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, the students of Trump University, or members of any minority. We disapprove of Donald Trump because he equivocates on matters that are beyond equivocation.

Public opinion is not just eroding among Americans. Fact: At the beginning of Trump’s presidency, 64 percent of the world had confidence in the U.S. president; at the end of June 2017 — just five months later — only 22 percent did. The Pew global survey of 37 nations added that those holding a favorable view of the United States slipped by 15 points to 49 percent.

Trump and his nativist “America First” followers might say who cares what the world thinks? My response: Try asking someone you’ve dissed for a favor. Then there is this: 41 million American jobs — 1 in 5 — are linked to trade (and the casualties of Trump's trade wars already have begun).

Who cares what other countries think?

Perhaps our head-in-the-sand president and his band of eager believers might want to acknowledge that we need the rest of the world just as it needs us. Here are two questions for them: 1) What happens when and if we need help from countries that Trump has alienated with his antics? And 2) How does the world laughing at us help with the whole “Make America Great Again” thing?

I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: Whenever Trump’s supporters are confronted with these realities, their default response is, “Well, we know he's not Mother Teresa, but unemployment is down and stocks are up.” It’s acceptable, then, to lower our standards with such a trade-off? It’s OK to have a president who surrounds himself with felons and corner-cutting grifters? Who is genetically incapable of instilling pride in more than just a small subset of the country? Who mocks the ethos that once made us the envy of the world?

This is why even a roaring economy can't lift Donald Trump’s numbers.

I do give the president credit for something very important: He has reminded us that the values we cherish must never be taken for granted. He is a bull running about unchecked in our fragile china shop of a democracy. His base, blind to the lies, selfishness and shameless self-dealing, doesn't seem to mind. For this, they must be written off.

For the rest of us, the Trump era can be seen as a clarion call for change. Trump is not the cause of our problems but the result of them. We can and must do better — and when we do, that’s when America will be great again.

Paul Brandus, founder and White House bureau chief of West Wing Reports, is the author of "Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency" and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @WestWingReport​​​​​​