President Donald Trump’s approval ratings came out of the gates higher than his first term in 2017, but they remain low compared to other presidents during the same time span.
Most polls taken in the first few weeks of his second term show more people approve of Trump’s job performance than disapprove of it. However, early 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, outside of his first term.
And that margin, also known as net approval rating, has shrunk as more polls have been released, moving from around 7 percentage points on Jan. 27 to around 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 into 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 and slash government spending.
How does Trump’s approval rating compare to his first term and other newly inaugurated presidents?
Using FiveThirtyEight’s current polling average methodology retroactively, Trump’s early net approval rating in 2017 was +3.2 points on Jan. 27. Just more than a week into their presidencies, Former President Joe Biden’s was +21.8 and former President Barack Obama’s approval rating was +46.9 points, FiveThirtyEight reported at the time.
Biden maintained a positive approval rating of roughly 18 percentage points or more through his first month. But by the time he left office earlier this year, FiveThirtyEight data showed more respondents disapproved of him by 20 percentage points.
Historically, presidents tend to be seen more favorably by the public at the beginning of their term and approval ratings often decrease through presidential tenures.
That decline in public sentiment could be showing up for Trump already, as multiple polls conducted in mid-February have brought the president’s net approval rating down, FiveThirtyEight’s rolling poll average shows.
Demonstrators gather near the U.S. Capitol on Presidents’ Day to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions during his first weeks in office, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 17, 2025.
‘Benefit of the doubt’: Trump ratings are better off…for now, expert says
Despite Trump serving his two terms non-consecutively, Costas Panagopoulos, head of political science at Northeastern University, says it is still fair to compare his early approval ratings 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 that many don’t expect things to change within his first month back in office.
Panagopoulos said he has noticed some “red flags for the president” in approval polls, as some show respondents have concerns about how Trump is tackling his campaign priorities like inflation, but the president appeared to be in better standing than the start of his first term.
“It is important to recognize that the country remains divided and highly polarized, and that is being reflected in the approval ratings,” Panagopoulos said. “I mean, his election turned on a dime, and his approval ratings can turn on a dime too.”
What recent presidential approval polls are saying
Washington Post/Ipsos:
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More respondents disapproved of Trump’s job 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 than disapproved by 3 percentage points (poll conducted Feb. 16-18; 1,451 registered voters; margin of error ±3.2 percentage points).
Morning Consult:
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More respondents approve of Trump’s work 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 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, 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.
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com, and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump approval ratings: What recent polls say after one month
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