I re-created my town recently and i don't remember having to mess with approval ratings so i don't remember how i got them up and i keep doing as Isabelle tells me but its not helping my approval rating at all. Help?
Do favors for villagers. You only get points one time for most of the things Isabelle tells you to do, For example, you get points for donating to the museum, but only once. Same with changing your flag, writing a message on the bulliton board, etc. However, you get points for every time you do favors for villages. I also noticed that my mayor would get up to 99% , but wouldn't go any further. Once I started the game the next day, my rating was 100.
Plant stuff, sell trash at Re-Tail, do favors for villagers, change the town tune and flag. The approval rating rises slowly, but if you do most of that stuff, you should be able to get the development permit in 2-3 days.