Approval and polling
| Label | Approval Rating |
|---|---|
| Where shown | The dashboard, as the headline number |
| Start | 50 for a custom president, adjusted slightly by some profile choices |
| Range | Generally stays between 5 and 95 |
| Moved by | The focus group's verdict on that month's policy, at the close of each month |
Approval is the headline number of the presidency game, shown on the dashboard as the Approval Rating. It represents the President's standing with the country as a whole. It moves each month according to the focus group's verdict on that month's policy. The system is designed to move approval slowly: a single month cannot swing it far, gains are harder to achieve than losses, and the further approval strays from the middle of the range, the smaller its further movement in the same direction becomes.
Where it starts
A custom president starts with an approval rating of 50, which the character sheet then adjusts slightly. Some profile choices, such as gender, age and religion, carry a small starting bonus or penalty; most profile choices carry no bonus at all.
How a month moves it
At the close of every month, that month's persona scores are averaged into a single figure, which is then blended into the current approval rating. For a president, this average is weighted so that larger, more electorally significant states count for more. For a governor in Career Mode, the average is instead weighted towards the home state. A month in which no personas reacted leaves approval unchanged.
Approval falls faster than it rises: a bad month closes a larger share of the gap between the month's average and the current rating than an equally good month would. A separate effect also slows any movement once approval is a long way from the middle of the range, so a president who is already very popular or very unpopular sees smaller swings from an ordinary month than a president closer to the middle. The same general pattern applies to a Pentagon command in war mode, to the reaction to a post-war aftermath card, and to a special action, though a special action moves approval by a larger share of the gap in both directions.
The demographic breakdown
Alongside the headline number, the game also keeps a running approval figure for each individual persona, moved by the same monthly blend, so that the average of all of them always equals the headline approval figure. This is the set of figures shown in the dashboard's demographic breakdown. Because of this, the breakdown shows a rolling standing with each voter, rather than a one-off reaction to the latest policy.
Everything else that moves it
- Bills. Vetoing a bill from the President's own party, or vetoing a bipartisan compromise, costs the President some approval.
- Tweets. A tweet sent in the Tweeter mode moves approval up or down by a small random amount.
- Wars. When deployments are running, approval drifts each month towards the level of public support for the wars, scaled by how large the deployment is.
- Stakeholders. For premium accounts, a stakeholder who likes a policy adds a little approval each month, and one who dislikes it subtracts a little. Several of the stakeholders' passive effects also touch approval directly.
- Special actions. A failed self-coup costs the President a further chunk of approval, on top of the usual reaction.
- Amendments. Ratifying the succession reform in the Designated Survivor scenario adds a little approval.
Most of these keep the result within the 5 to 95 range.
What reads it
Approval feeds into several other systems in the game. In Checks and balances, Congress is more likely to defy the President when approval is low, and an executive order or military move is more likely to be challenged when approval is low. In Congress and elections, a President's approval shifts an election's results in individual states, and shifts the overall trend in Congress, in the direction that approval points. The alternative, national-vote election mode reads the approval figure directly as the vote share instead. Approval also affects how the game's economy, social statistics and dynamic events develop, since these systems take account of how the President currently stands with the public.
What it is not
The poll shown on the campaign banner is a different figure from approval. It is drawn from persona reactions gathered since the campaign began, measured against an opponent whose figure is the mirror of the President's. This poll is labelled with a description of the President's position: a comfortable lead, a narrow lead, too close to call, trailing, or serious trouble.