It has been over two months since President Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term. As Trump’s net approval ratings came out of the gates much higher than in 2017, even if still lower than those of any other president in modern history, recent polls have proven that public sentiment is split now, or in some cases, definitely more negative.
But by late February, only one month into his term, his overall approval rating, which is measured as the difference between a president’s approval and disapproval polling averages, had drastically shrunk to an even.
Ever since Trump marched on with federal agency cuts and has also continued to feature Elon Musk in a central role in his administration, both of which are quite controversial with voters, multiple polls have proven.
Many modern presidents witnessed their approval ratings dip throughout their first year in office, since they exit the so-called “honeymoon period.” Here’s exactly what the polls tell us about how Americans approve of Trump’s second presidency so far.
How Republicans’ united front, Democrats’ division play into Trump’s approval ratings
Two months down the line, Trump’s approval ratings didn’t really show a huge shift from the beginning of his term, especially compared with first one, according to Costas Panagopoulos, head of political science at Northeastern University.
However, he also said voters could continue to be reserved about the administration’s priorities as the early policies unfold, especially since inflation rises and the stock market tries to recover from a deep tumble that began in February.
“There are plenty of people who completely dismissed other claims, as well as comments made by him throughout the campaign, simply because they expected that his priorities would be in line with things they wanted.”
Now, many of them realize that that is not the case anymore. However, it’s crucial to understand Trump’s approval ratings and the fact that they come from an already polarized electorate. As Democrats are a bit fragmented, Republicans seem to put forward a “united front” in supporting Trump.
Presidential approval Polls – NBC News
As it turns out, more respondents seem to disapprove of Trump’s job than approve, by a slight margin of 4 percentage points (poll that was conducted in between March 70-11: 1,000 registered voters, margin of error of 3.1 percentage points give or take). The poll also found that even more respondents believe the executive and judicial branches have way too much power than when asked about the same thing in 2019.
Economist/ YouGov
More respondents mark an unfavorable view of Trump than a favorable one, by a notable margin of 51% to 46% (poll conducted March 16-18; 1,618 U.S. adults; 3.4 percentage points give or take). Democrats in Congress have also become “much less popular in the past few months,” as Republicans in Congress have become increasingly more popular, according to YouGov.
Also, fifty percent of respondents to the poll seem to strongly oppose the most recent layoffs of federal workers by the Department of Government Efficiency, compared to only 38% who support the layoffs.
Morning Consult
Morning Consult performed its own measure of Trump’s approval ratings, and it has flipped net negative for the very first time since he took office, with increasingly more respondents disapproving of his job performance (50%) than those who actually approve (48%). The polls were conducted between March 14-16, among 2,210 registered voters, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points, give or take.
His approval rating with Morning Consult turned drastically negative a week later during Trump’s first presidency. As it turns out, more voters still disapprove of Trump’s handling of most issues, with the president getting his best marks on immigration (55% approval), as well as national security (52% approval).
RMG Research/ Napolitan News Service
54% of respondents either strongly agree with Trump’s policies or somewhat disapprove of everything he has done so far, compared with 44% who disapprove, strongly or somewhat, along those lines.
How much do people know about Trump’s administration?
His second administration started with a rapid succession of executive orders, as well as policy changes, which also include tariffs, cuts to government agencies, and many other things. Americans now finally pay attention, but Democrats and Republicans have different reasons for tuning in, according to a new Research Center survey conducted in late February and early March.
Now, the president and his allies seem to be moving in another direction, where they reshape the federal government and U.S. foreign policy, with about seven-in-ten U.S. adults stating that they’ve been continuously following the news about the actions and initiatives of the Trump administration either very closely or fairly closely.
That’s somehow the same share who stated they were following news about the presidential election last September (69%), and a bit higher than the percentage who stated they were following news about the actions and initiatives of the new Biden administration in 2021, which is around 66%.
There’s also a huge gap between now and the early days of the Biden presidency, especially when it comes to the share who follow administration news quite closely.
Both of these partial coalitions pay attention to the actions and initiatives of the administration at a similar pace. This is a bit different from the first months of the Biden administration back in 2021, when Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were less likely than Democrats to follow the Biden administration’s actions too closely.
But now, 74% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats declared they follow the Trump administration’s actions fairly closely. In fact, four-in-ten Americans state that now, they are paying much more attention to political news than they were before President Trump took office, as only 10% of them say they are paying less attention.
Believe it or not, Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to pay attention, and are also more likely to pay less attention than before the inauguration. In the meantime, Republicans are more inclined to say their attention has been quite steady.
Reasons Americans follow (or do not) news about the Trump administration
The survey also discussed whether or not 71% of Americans who declare they’re following the news about the Trump administration very or fairly closely are really doing this. Respondents were also given a list of five possible reasons as to why they could be following what Trump does, and indicated whether or not each has their own major, minor reason, or none at all.
In fact, as it turns out, the most common reasons imply concern and relevance.
In fact, two-thirds of U.S. adults in this particular group (66%) say “I’m very concerned about what the administration is doing,” stating this as the major reason they follow its actions. Another six-in-ten of them say its relevance to their day-to-day life is another major reason.
Smaller shares of those mentioned three other potential factors as the biggest reasons as to why they follow news about the Trump administration:
- Because it’s very hard to avoid them (43%)
- Because they agree with the administration’s decisions (36%)
- Because they find it entertaining or interesting (25%)
In the smaller group who isn’t closely following news about the administration, the most common reasons for tuning out are fatigue and lack of interest in politics overall. Half of them say a major reason for this is that they are completely worn out by the amount of news, or they simply don’t follow political news.
Roughly a third of them say they are tuned out, explaining they disagree with what the administration is doing (34%). Fewer of them say that what the administration is doing is not relevant to their life, or they simply trust the administration to make the right decision.
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