Americans have mixed opinions of President Donald Trump’s job performance so far, according to current approval ratings, an often-relied upon indicator of how elected officials are viewed by constituents.
Most polls taken in the first few weeks of Trump’s second term show more people approve of his job performance than disapprove. However, calculations published Jan. 28 by polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight showed the margin between Trump’s approval and disapproval polling averages was the second-lowest among any other newly elected president since World War II, except for his first term.
And that margin, also known as net approval rating, has shrunk as more polls have been released, moving from about 7 percentage points on Jan. 27 to 1.3 percentage points on Feb. 20, FiveThirtyEight polling averages show.
Polls taken during Trump’s first month in office come as his administration has launched a flurry of executive actions, court challenges and DOGE directives. Thousands of federal employees have been laid off as the administration looks to reshape federal agencies.
Costas Panagopoulos, head of political science at Northeastern University, says it’s fair to compare Trump’s early approval ratings in his second term with past newly inaugurated presidents.
“It seems like Americans are giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt as he starts his second term,” Panagopoulos said, noting many don’t expect things to change within his first month back in office.
Here’s what to know.
How is a president’s approval rating determined?
According to data agency Gallup, a presidential approval rating is a “simple measure, yet a very powerful one that has played a key role in politics for over 70 years.”
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A president’s approval rating reflects the percentage of American polled who approve of the president’s performance. Anything can impact a president’s rating, such as legislation passed, actions and elections.
According to ABC News, an approval rating doesn’t just represent how well the administration is doing for the general public, but could determine the outcome of an upcoming election for a politician or how much they get done during their time in office.
What are the origins of presidential approval ratings?
Presidential approval rating where first conducted by the founder of the American Institute of Public Opinion, George Gallup, around 1935 to gauge public support for the president of the United States during their term.
While Gallup has tracked presidential approval for 70 years, other organization release their own polls as well, including Ipsos and Morning Consult.
Project FiveThirtyEight also finds averages of these polls, highlighting the specific issues citizens are most concerned about. For example, they found Trump’s most polled-on issue area was immigration.
What are President Trump’s approval ratings?
Recent approval ratings, according to different groups show:
Washington Post/Ipsos:
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More respondents disapproved of Trump’s job performance by 8 percentage points. (Poll conducted Feb 13-18; 2,601 adults; margin of error ±2.1 percentage points)
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The majority of respondents (57%) say Trump has exceeded his authority since taking office, the Post wrote.
YouGov/TheEconomist:
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More respondents approved of Trump’s job performance than disapproved by 3 percentage points (poll conducted Feb. 16-18; 1,451 registered voters; margin of error ±3.2 percentage points).
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Morning Consult:
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More respondents approve of Trump’s job performance by 3 percentage points (poll conducted Feb. 14-16; 2,217 registered voters; margin of error ±2 percentage points).
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After three rounds of week-over-week declines, these ratings leveled out and are similar to numbers taken at the same point in his first term, according to Morning Consult.
Gallup:
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More respondents disapprove of Trump’s job performance overall by a 6-point margin (poll conducted Feb 3-16; 1,004 adult respondents; margin of error ±4 percentage points)
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His support is highly partisan, as the poll shows the gap between Democrats who approve of Trump and Republicans who approve of Trump is 89 percentage points, the highest Gallup has measured for any president.
Echelon Insights:
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More Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, 52% to 46%, (poll conducted Feb. 10-13; 1,010 likely electorate; margin of error ±3.6 percentage points)
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The survey also showed that voters do not approve of Elon Musk’s current role with the federal government by an 11-point margin.
What did Michigan 2024 polls say about President Trump?
Ahead of the 2024 election, Project FiveThirtyEight polling showed President Trump at 47% support while former Vice President Kamala Harris was at 48% in Michigan, as of Nov. 5, 2024. Trump actually won Michigan 49.7% to 48.3%.
USA TODAY and the Palm Beach Post contributed.
Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: President Trump’s approval ratings: What to know
