As Democrats and the left try to claim President Donald Trump is facing low approval ratings, evidence continues to come in showing that's not quite the whole picture. His numbers are certainly better than his first term, and he's only been in office for a little over a month. Further, more and more polls keep coming in, including just recently on Monday.
According to a poll from Harvard CAPS/Harris, Trump enjoys a 52-43 percent approval rating among registered voters. 538 and RealClearPolling have included the poll in their aggregate, resulting in a +0.8 and +1.8 net approval rating for Trump, respectively.
The poll results also highlight good favorable ratings for Trump, who is at a 50-43 percent favorable rating.
"People are taking a generally positive wait-and-see attitude for Trump but have really reassessed their attitudes toward Biden, Harris, and the Democrats, taking a much harsher, more negative attitude," Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS / Harris poll and Stagwell Chairman and CEO is quoted as saying. "Trump has a real opportunity here – we're seeing a healthy, trudging approval edging toward real approval based on how the next couple of months turn out."
📊 President Trump Job Approval
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 24, 2025
🟢 Approve: 52% (+9)
🔴 Disapprove: 43%
Harvard/Harris | 2/19-20 | 2,443 RV | ±2% pic.twitter.com/OXiUg5IheB
The poll results have been garnering plenty of attention X, including with accounts affiliated with the Trump White House. The Rapid Response 47 account, for instance, shared how "Americans overwhelmingly support President Trump’s agenda."
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Of 11 issues voters are asked about, a majority of voters support 10 of them. Even Democrats support four of them, while Republicans support all 11 of them, and those considered Independent/Other support 10 of them.
- By 81-19 percent, voters support "Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have committed crimes," which includes support from 70 percent of Democrats. This puts Democratic politicians throwing a fit over such deportations strongly against what voters want.
- By 76-24 percent, voters support "Undertaking a full-scale effort to find and eliminate fraud and waste in government expenditures," which includes support from 62 percent of Democrats. Congressional Democrats oppose this effort too, though, especially in the Senate, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
- In a blow to the previous Biden-Harris administration, no doubt, 76-24 percent also support "Closing the border with added security and policies that discourage illegal crossings," with 61 percent of Democrats saying they support.
- By 69-31 percent, voters support "Banning men who have undergone operations and hormones to become women from girls’ sports." Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to that affect, though states like Maine refuse to comply. Trump got into it with Gov. Janet Mills last Friday. Unfortunately for her, though, 50 percent of her fellow Democrats support this agenda item as well.
- Another Trump executive order, this one from day one of his second term, also enjoys majority support. By 68-32 percent, voters support "Declaring that there are only two genders male and female in all government forms and programs."
- There's bad news for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as well. By 65-35 percent, voters approve of "Eliminating all preferences by race in the hiring and awarding of government contracts."
- By 63-37 percent, voters approve of "Freezing and re-evaluating all foreign aid expenditures and the department that handled them." Even 40 percent of Democrats say they agree.
- For all the handwringing about tariffs, voters support this Trump agenda item as well. By 61-39 percent, voters approve of "Placing reciprocal tariffs on countries that have tariffs on US goods." Trump signed such an executive order earlier this month.
- In more bad news for Democrats and their tantrums, voters support "Cutting government expenditures that were already allocated by Congress" by 59-41 percent.
- By 57-43 percent, voters support "Ending bans on offshore drilling in Alaska and elsewhere."
- By 61-39 percent, voters oppose "Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America." However, 63 percent of Trump's fellow Republicans support the move.
NEW POLL: Americans overwhelmingly support President Trump’s agenda.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 24, 2025
(Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, Feb. 19-20, 2025) pic.twitter.com/ZYWb43fYY8
The poll also shows improvement from last month in many areas, including and especially for Trump's policy areas:
- Compared to the 28 percent who said so last month, 38 percent now say the economy is on the "right track."
- As is also highlighted by a press release for the poll, 42 percent of voters say the country is on "the right track," up from 28 percent in January. The gap is also narrower for the wrong track/right track, at 48-42 percent.
- 47 percent say the economy is "strong today," which the poll notes is the highest since 2021.
In a way to further highlight the difference between the second Trump administration and Biden's administration, the poll highlights how "TRUMP IS OUTPERFORMING BIDEN IN PERCEPTIONS OF HANDLING KEY ISSUES, AND HAS MAJORITY APPROVAL ON IMMIGRATION, REDUCING GOVERNMENT COSTS AND RETURNING AMERICA TO ITS VALUES."
The poll compared Biden's numbers from last month for his final weeks in office to Trump's second term:
- On the economy, 37 percent said in January they approve of Biden's handling, while the number is 49 percent for Trump. His low approval rating on the economy frequently affected Biden's term.
- There are even worse issues for Biden, though, including his 34 percent approval rating on immigration, which Trump has a 56 percent approval rating on.
- On foreign affairs, Biden had a 38 percent approval rating, while Trump has a 48 percent approval rating.
- When it comes to "Administering the Gov't," just 40 percent approved of the job Biden was doing, while Trump has a 49 percent approval rating on that issue.
- Another issue that was worse for Biden than the economy, but nevertheless tied more closely to it, is inflation. Just 34 percent said they approved of Biden's handling of the issue last month, though 45 percent approve of Trump. Not only was this an issue that affected Biden and his administration mightily, but Democrats, including and especially top ones like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have harped on going after Trump for this key issue.
- The poll's findings also showed how a majority approve of Trump's handling on "Reducing the cost of the government" and "Returning America to its values," both with 53 percent approval ratings.
The stark contrast between Trump and President Joe Biden's agenda items aren't the only bad news for the previous administration. Penn's comments also touched upon the rejection of Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, who was installed as the replacement nominee when Biden was forced out of the race by his fellow Democrats last July.
By 58-42 percent, voters say that Trump is doing better than Biden. This even includes 22 percent of Biden's fellow Democrats. On the same page, the poll results also show that voters are evenly split as to if Trump is doing "better" or "worse" than expected, with 36 percent saying he's doing "better," 35 percent saying he's doing "worse," and 29 percent saying he's doing "as expected."
NEW Harvard-Harris Poll:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 24, 2025
🟢 Trump approval: 52% (+9)
🔴 Trump disapproval: 43%
58% say he is doing better than Biden
81% support deporting criminal aliens
76% support eliminating fraud, waste
76% support closing the U.S. border
70% support merit-based hiring
61% support…
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) February 24, 2025
The poll also highlights bad news for the Democratic Party, just as other recent polls have as well. Not long after asking voters about whether Trump was doing as they expected and if he was performing better than Biden, the poll also asked about what the response from Democrats should be.
As one question asked, "Do you think Democrats should oppose everything that Trump is doing or should they take more of a wait and see attitude towards his actions?" Another asked, "Do you think Democrats should oppose the effort to reduce government expenditures or should join in the mission of cutting government waste?" By 66-34 percent, voters answered that Democrats should "wait and see" and also that they should "join the mission." Again, this is especially bad news for Schumer, who when speaking to reporters last week admitted that there is "some" government waste. In addition to putting the problem particularly lightly, he also then lambasted Republicans for taking a "meat axe" approach.
While Trump has a favorable rating of 50-43, for a +7 net favorable, the same can certainly not be said for Biden or Harris, who have a 56 and 53 percent disapproval rating, respectively. Harris is at a -14 net approval, while Biden's is even worse, at -24. The only figure with a worse net approval rating is Russia's Vladimir Putin, with a -58 net approval rating. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who may run for mayor, is tied with Biden for a -24 net approval rating.
The poll's press release highlighted at the very top how "DEMOCRATIC PARTY APPROVAL HITS A RECORD LOW AT 36%, NOW 15 POINTS LOWER THAN THE GOP." The poll further shows that 64 percent disapprove of how the party is doing. Meanwhile, the Republican Party actually has a net positive approval rating, of 51-49 percent. While 56 percent of those in the Independent/Other category disapprove of the GOP, 70 percent say they disapprove of the Democratic Party.
The poll was conducted February 19-20 with 2,443 registered voters and has an approval rating of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month and late last showed record lows for Democrats, all while showing record highs for Republicans. According to the polls, voters have a 57-31 percent unfavorable rating of the Democratic Party, while 68-22 percent disapprove of Democrats in Congress.
Another poll from earlier this month, which came from Cygnal, showed that the Democratic Party is at a 54-40 percent unfavorable rating with likely general election voters for 2026. This could be particularly bad news for Democrats in the midterms.
