|
Main Zero Percent Approval Rating Discussion
Taken this from the page.
- Luca Blight from Suikoden II holds this title due to fact that he is a genocidal bloodthirsty psychopath while the people in his country...are not.
- IIRC, Luca Blight is actually very popular among his own soldiers. During the final battle Luca Blight, his soldiers will leap into the path of arrows fired against him and make enthused declarations of their loyalty to him. Contrast with later scenes involving the Highland soldiers, where their enthusiasm is notably reduced.
Hey, what about the case with Mike Rizzo, the guy in charge of the town of Bell, California? It's an ongoing spectacle right now: He was the center of an elaborate conspiracy involving EVERY BOARD MEMBER that allowed him and all of his colleagues to get rich. (Well, not all of them. But the ones who weren't were intimidated into keeping quiet.) He has since gained at least $8 million more than he legally should.
People started getting suspicious, and police started an investigation. During this time, a massive protest took place at the Bell City Council building, which Rizzo and all the other councilmembers ignored. They found evidence, and Rizzo was caught and arrested sometime in early October 2010, along with most of his other partners. (Interestingly, the mayor, Mr. Fernandez, locked himself in his house and fortified his doors. Police needed a battering ram to get in.) As a display of just how ridiculously low his approval rating had become, a big celebration took place in Bell on the day he was sent to jail.
This story isn't over though: As of right now, Rizzo's family has paid the $2 million bail. Rizzo also hired a top attorney, and together they intend to take back his position as the council leader. He can do this, he argues, because he never officially resigned and is thus still the acting leader. His attorney says that Rizzo can also sue the inhabitants of Bell for "lost wages" during the time he spent imprisoned.
The frightening part is that, due to loopholing his way through the legal system, Rizzo can actually regain leadership, thus having what is arguably the record lowest approval rating of all time. He can remain as the council leader because Bell's laws require him to personally resign—if he refuses, he could theoretically stay in charge until the day he dies.
I would add Leopold III of Belgium in terms of treatment towards Congo, he did nothing good for them, period.
Real Life
Okay, so we've got a whole paragraph on the top of this page detailing a list of excellent and very clear reasons why this trope doesn't work in real life, a RL section invariably creates drama and uncautious editing. But still an RL section keeps cropping up. So, can we have a discussion about it and either pull the RL section or the paragraph in the trope description for good? Because they really should agree.
And yes, I pulled the RL section, since the description says it's not an RL trope and that should define the examples on the page. However, in case the consensus is for an RL section, I've saved the folder here, unaltered.
Real Life
- Leopold II of Belgium is the closest thing we ever have to an Evil Overlord with Zero Percent Approval Rating, in Belgian Congo. He ruled brutally and cruelly on the natives of the land and left it deprived of resources and the ability to self govern themselves. It is no secret that every African hated his rule and subsequently Belgium for their actions.
- It is estimated that Leopold killed off half of Congo's population, but we don't know for sure because he burned all documents about his rule when his reign ended. Estimations about the true numbers range from 5 to 15 million. For comparison, the holocaust has caused 11 to 17 million deaths. This guy was so bad, even other racists hated his guts. Having your hand amputated or having your wife killed were common punishments under his rule. His motive for this? Money, dear boy!
- Colonel Gaddafi appears to be doing his best to embody this trope.
- Except that he does actually have a strong base of support in certain parts of the population (the high-echelon military, tribes, and some of the educated upper class), and a few other leaders worldwide have expressed support for him (if only because many of them are ruthless autocrats themselves).
- The White House under any administration keeps an eye on constant approval ratings. While no administration ever got to Zero Percent, some Presidents - such as Harry S Truman and George W Bush - got as low as the mid-20s towards the end of their tenures, and clearly did not leave office with the nation's good graces. While Truman ended up Vindicated By History, time will only tell for Bush.
- Boris Yeltsin's approval rating was very low during the later part of his term. Some estimates put it as low as 2% (yes, two, that's not a typo).