Despite his claim to have a mandate from voters, President Donald Trump has the lowest initial approval ratings of any president since 1953 — except for himself in 2017.
Gallup reports Trump’s initial job approval rating for his second term is 47%, a slight improvement over his 45% approval rating at the beginning of his first term in 2017. Both those numbers fall below all other elected presidents dating back to 1953.
“Trump remains the only elected president with sub-50% initial approval ratings, and his latest disapproval rating (48%) is three percentage points higher than in 2017, marking a new high for inaugural ratings,” Gallup reported.
Both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan faced low initial approval ratings (51%) but the difference is Americans today are much more likely to disapprove of Trump’s performance rather than have no opinion, as was the case for Bush and Reagan.
Historically, John F. Kennedy had the highest inaugural approval rating of the modern era (72%) followed closely by Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama (68%). Jimmy Carter had an initial favorable rating of 66% while Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and George W. Bush had ratings between 57% and 59%.
Gallup’s report added this bit of sunshine for the current president: “Although Trump’s latest rating is weak compared with past presidents’ initial readings, it is among the best he has received as president. His personal high point during his first term was 49%, which he earned on several occasions in 2020. Trump averaged 41% approval in his first term and is the only president not to receive a job rating of 50% or higher at any point in his presidency. He left office in January 2021 with the lowest rating of his presidency, 34%, after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Sliced by partisan views, however, Trump is loved by his own party. Fully 91% of Republicans say they approve of what he’s doing, compared to just 6% of Democrats and 46% of independents.
