Since millennials now outnumber baby boomers, it may be that few remember the days when airlines served food. Those who are nostalgic for those days may have forgotten that the food was very bad. A lot of people got sick from it — but that’s another story.

During those “full service” days the airlines got together and asked a public relations person to craft a campaign to convince passengers the food tasted good. The baffled professional blurt out the obvious: “But they eat it!”

Abundant evidence suggests that, at the moment, American disapproval of the incoming administration resides primarily among elites disconnected from everyday Americans.

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The more you know about something, the less able others are to shape your opinion.

Which brings us to the wave of negative press surrounding President-Elect Donald Trump and his transition. The latest reporting informs us that his is the most disapproved transition in presidential history.

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A little context.

Outlets like BuzzFeed and Politico have cherry-picked Pew survey reports to tell us Americans disapprove of Trump’s Cabinet choices, 49 percent to 41 percent. While that’s true, it’s also relevant to know that Sen. Jeff Sessions was the most widely identified of those nominees and only 10 percent volunteered his name. All told, only 34 percent of those surveyed could name anyone. To be clear: More people dislike Trump’s picks than know who any of them are.

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By contrast — the most likely contrast throbbing in the brains of millennial journalists — 66 percent of Americans approved of Obama’s Cabinet picks at this point in his transition. The relevant context for this number is that only 20 percent of Obama’s transition press coverage was negative, according to Pew. A full 42 percent was actively positive. A fawning 72 percent of stories about Obama’s character were positive. Only 16 percent of stories about Obama’s agenda and ideology were critical.

While comparable numbers are not yet available for coverage of the Trump transition, since we are living in it — eating the food — we know it is omnipresent and overwhelmingly bad. The Media Research Center has gathered comparable anecdotes. Obama’s nominees were admired for their “brain power” and called a “team of geniuses.” The mental product of Trump’s national security adviser, by comparison, was labeled “short-sighted and ignorant” on CNN and his chief White House strategist widely labeled a “white supremacist” and “extremist” by the broadcast networks.

It would be cathartic but unproductive to rehash the nearly universally negative coverage of Trump by the non-Fox networks during the campaign. We know that opinions have hardened as a result, leaving the nation starkly polarized by party. That the polarization has not been softened by the conclusion of the election — or the soothing balm of the holidays and the hopefulness that usually seizes us at the start of a new year and a new administration — is the real story getting little attention. Democrats and liberals have not yet given up making the case that Hillary Clinton didn’t lose but rather had the election stolen from her.

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When Obama took office, riding his wave of adoring coverage but also benefiting from the innate goodwill of the American people, his popularity stood at 68 percent, according to Gallup. Importantly, 43 percent of Republicans approved of him, as did 52 percent of self-identified conservatives. Americans who did not vote for him opted for the hope he promised in his campaign, not least the hope of moving past our racial divides. Today, Pew reports that a mere 13 percent of Democrats and Democrat “leaners” approve of the job Trump is doing in his transition.

When I was in the White House and we were waiting for the latest tracking polls to tell us what was on the minds of the American people, I would bet I could predict the results by looking at the last week of headlines. And I was usually right. Donald Trump’s transition has rolled out pretty well — nominees named, vetted, and before Congress with wonderful dispatch, with gestures about jobs, a focus on health, and bipartisan outreach abounding. The last year behind us, the year ahead unknown, abundant evidence suggests that, at the moment, American disapproval of the incoming administration resides primarily among elites disconnected from everyday Americans and those informationally dependent on them, the latter a group holding thin opinions based on little knowledge.

Unhappiness with Trump, at least for the moment, is less about Trump and more about a refusal, in certain ZIP codes, to give the man a chance. It’s a mendacious refusal that threatens the well-being of our country.

Mari Maseng Will served as President Reagan’s communications director and previously as a Reagan speechwriter.