As Townhall has been covering, Donald Trump has been enjoying some high approval and favorable ratings for his second term, especially in comparison to his first term. It's a fact that even the legacy media Sunday shows have had to admit when confronting key Democrats with this. Top Democrats, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), as well as the DNC, seem to have a hard time grappling with the facts that this isn't 2017 anymore.
On Monday, Presidents' Day, the DNC sent out a desperate press release, "Happy President’s Day to the Worst President(s) We’ve Ever Had." The fact that Trump is both the 45th and 47th president showcases how Americans like him enough to have elected him twice in the three presidential elections he ran.
"While Donald Trump hits the worst approval rating ever for any president at this point in their term (except for himself in his first one of course), his billionaire Cabinet and shadow president Elon Musk are busy enriching themselves at working families’ expense – and the American people are having none of it," the press release claimed. That doesn't mention how Trump is still enjoying a net positive, though. Conveniently, President Joe Biden's own approval ratings at the start of his term, a net positive, but lower than previous Democratic presidents, is left out.
The press release goes for an immature talking point we've heard before, which is that Elon Musk is actually president. Do they really think such tactics work? "Trump’s billionaire backer (and shadow president) Elon Musk has gotten $154 billion richer since Election Day … and watched as the money rolls in from federal contracts while he freezes programs working families rely on," the press release goes on to claim.
What follows is claims from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who may caucus with Democrats, but is actually so far to the left he's a democratic socialist. Another far-left senator, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), has also gone for long lines of attack against Musk and his companies.
"The American people are having none of it: most Americans now disapprove of Musk’s role in the Trump administration after he’s tried to gut consumer watchdogs and rip apart critical programs from Head Start to health clinics," the press continued, going for leftist narratives to gain sympathy from the American people.
But again, Musk and DOGE are looking to get to the bottom of government waste and fraud, not "gut consumer watchdogs and rip apart critical programs." There's also no mention of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and a pause from the Trump administration for review, with that program providing funding for a whole host of liberal causes, even sending funds to terrorists.
From there, the press release pointed to polls and far-left outlets, such as Mother Jones, to point to Americans' distaste for Musk.
Among those polls mentioned come from Quinnipiac University, The Economist/YouGov (though there have been more recent ones since), AP-NORC, Morning Consult, Gallup, CBS News, and Navigator Research. It's laughable that the DNC would include such polls, as the whole story is naturally not being told here.
The very same Quinnipiac University poll that they cite highlights how Trump is at better approval ratings, as well as how the Democratic Party is at a record low among Americans, with a 57-31 percent unfavorable rating. Americans also approve of Trump's plan to send U.S. troops to the southern border, as does the CBS News poll that is also mentioned. That CBS News poll was chock full of positive findings for Trump, not only on immigration, but also his approval ratings of 53-47 percent. His approval with young people is even better with young people, 55-45 percent. A major takeaway from that poll also focused on how Americans say Trump is doing what he said he would. By 70-30 percent, a majority of respondents believe that Trump is doing the "same things he promised in the campaign." And, the poll also found that by 49-41 percent, respondents say he's doing "More than [they] expected." Among those 49 percent who say he's doing more than they expected, 61-39 say they "Mostly like" what he's doing."
When it comes to Morning Consult's poll, this is a liberal one that also tended to favor then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Trump not only beat Harris in the Electoral College last November, but he won the popular vote, a feat a Republican has not accomplished since 2004.
That poll highlights how Trump's voters "continue to sour" on Trump, though it's worth mentioning that 538 still has him with a net positive favorable and approval rating.
That Gallup poll does highlight how Trump fares not as well as other recent presidents, going back to President Dwight Eisenhower. The poll also points to how "Trump’s Approval Rating Remains Politically Polarized." We certainly do live in a partisan era. Further, Biden's own disapproval ratings, even at the start of his presidency, weren't too far behind Trump, for either of his terms. While Biden had a 57 percent approval rating at the start, up until February 2, 37 percent still disapproved.
Gallup has also pointed to some not-so-flattering numbers for Biden at the end of his term or shortly after he left office. He's viewed the least favorably among all five presidents still alive, according to a Gallup poll from last week. Another poll from Gallup, from early last month, also spoke to his low approval ratings shortly before he left office.
When it comes to Presidents' Day and the rankings, there was no mention of Biden by the DNC, though the 46th president, who was forced out by his fellow Democrats and replaced/installed with a particular loser candidate, Harris, ranks the worst or among the worst by many metrics.
