Three months into his second term, President Trump hit the highest approval rating he’s ever had as commander-in-chief — while more Americans say the country is on the right track than at any point since 2004, a new poll found.
That’s the good news, according to an NBC News Poll released Sunday.
The bad news is that Trump still has not won over a majority of Americans, and 54% said they disapprove of his handling of the economy — the first time he’s lost a majority on that issue in NBC’s poll.
Even so, the survey found that voters generally feel Trump is bringing “the right kind of change” on the key issues — even tariffs.
More Americans support his changes to trade policy (41%) than oppose it (38%), according to NBC.
That’s despite the stock market selloff last week as Wall Street grappled with Trump’s decision earlier this month to slap 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as a 20% tariff on China.
On many other key issues, voters felt the same way, with Trump’s actions on the border being the most popular — 56% said it was a positive change. On government cuts, 47% said his changes were good, compared to just 29% who opposed.
Even on his handling of the Ukraine war and NATO — policies he’s received significant pushback on — more respondents said his actions were good — (41% and 40%) than opposed his actions.
NBC poll respondents also appear to be cutting Trump some slack on inflation — 40% said his policies are having a positive effect, compared to 30% who said they were having a negative impact; 28% said Trump’s policies are not changing things at all.
Illustrating how the president remains a political Rorschach test for a deeply divided country, Trump’s approval rating among Republicans is 90%, while his figures among Democrats clock in at a paltry 4%, per the poll.
That’s the largest gap in approval ratings between a president’s party and the opposition party over the last 80 years, NBC assessed.
Some 47% of voters in the survey approve of Trump — compared to 51% who disapprove, marking an all-time high in the poll. He previously hit 47% in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and in October 2018.
NBC News’ findings mirror most other polling, with the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls showing Trump with a 48.2% approval rating on average.
Trump’s approval rating is significantly higher than where it stood at this point during his first term (44%), per RCP, though below where former President Joe Biden was during the same time (53%).
In another boost for Trump, NBC News recorded that a two-decade high 44% of registered voters believe that the country is on the right track, while 54% believe it’s heading in the wrong direction.
While still pessimistic, that marks the most positive outlook on the country’s direction the poll has found since President George W. Bush was in office 20 years ago.
It’s also a huge swing from the last administration. Last September, just 28% percent of polled voters told NBC News that the country was headed in the right direction — compared to 65% who said it was on the wrong track.
One of the most significant actions Trump has taken in his second term was to establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), something that has sparked protests from government workers and an outcry from Democrats.
While DOGE is unpopular (47% negative to 41% positive), voters generally believe it was a good idea (46%), compared to 40% who say it was a bad idea to set up.
Trump has steadfastly stood by DOGE and Elon Musk amid political backlash to the cost-cutting initiative, which is intended to help slim down the federal deficit.
In a key bright spot for Trump, Democrats’ favorability is at an abysmal 27%, with 55% viewing the party negatively, marking the worst numbers for the party in NBC News’ polling history.
Another poll from CNN found a similar result and also pegged Dems with their lowest rating in its polling history, with only 29% viewing the party favorably.
Additionally, voters also displayed skepticism of the media’s coverage of Trump, with 46% concluding it’s been too critical, while 25% felt it was too supportive, and 24% approved of the media’s approach to him.
The NBC News survey sampled 1,000 registered voters between March 7–11 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
