Trump's inaugural approval rating hits historic low again

At 47%, President Donald Trump's initial job approval rating for his second term is similar to the inaugural 45% reading during his first term, again placing him 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, News.az reports citing foreign media.

Trump’s current job approval rating, from Gallup’s Jan. 21-27 poll, is not significantly different from the 51% readings earned by George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan in the early days of their presidencies. However, initial evaluations of Trump differ in that Americans are much more likely to disapprove of his performance rather than have no opinion, as was the case for the elder Bush and Reagan.

John Kennedy had the highest inaugural approval rating, at 72%, followed closely by Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama, who both had strong starts with 68% readings. Jimmy Carter received a 66% approval rating, while Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and George W. Bush had ratings between 57% and 59%.

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.

Trump’s Approval Rating Remains Politically Polarized

As was the case during his first term, Trump’s current job rating is sharply polarized, with 91% of Republicans approving, compared with just 6% of Democrats and 46% of independents. This 85-point gap between Republicans and Democrats is similar to the average 81-point gap throughout his first term. It is also close to Biden’s 87-point gap at the beginning of his term in 2021.

At the start of Trump’s first term, partisans’ approval ratings were separated by 76 points (90% of Republicans vs. 14% of Democrats) -- whereas prior to that, the gaps in partisans’ initial approval ratings of new presidents ranged from 24 to 56 points.

News.Az