Trump’s Approval Ratings Are Higher Than Those He Reached During His First Term

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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

One month after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are higher than those he reached during his first term. The memory of Joe Biden’s terrible administration is helping the Republicans in polls, especially as Trump has already made significant changes through several executive orders.

According to the latest CBS poll by YouGov from February 5 to 7 of this year, 53% of US citizens have a positive opinion of the Trump administration, while 47% disapprove of it. Moreover, 70% of voters believe that Trump is fulfilling what he promised during the electoral campaign regarding issues such as the fight against illegal immigration and the reduction of the State. The latter task, entrusted to the technological magnate Elon Musk, was decisive for the billionaire’s return to the presidency.

YouGov

While still showing a deeply divided electorate, these approval ratings are better than those Trump displayed throughout his first term and significantly improve on the numbers he displayed when he left the White House in January 2021, when only 38% of Americans had a favorable opinion of his presidency.

The start of his new mandate has not been without controversy. Numerous clashes with governments have occurred over his tariff war, his desire to annex Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, and even his plan to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Trump’s popularity levels contrast with the exacerbation of attitudes that caused rejection in his first term, such as his constant use of social media to establish official positions, his disdain for Washington’s institutions and establishment, and the unpredictability of many of his announcements.

This new, more optimistic Republican scenario is due to a variety of factors. The first contrasts with his predecessor’s secretive and unpopular presidency, who ended his term with the lowest approval ratings since George W. Also, Biden’s inertia — especially in his last two years in office, where the White House hid the president’s cognitive decline from the press, thus creating a communication vacuum while global instability increased and prices in the US soared — paved the way for Trump’s return to be more accepted and even seen as a good thing.

While the memory of the Biden administration helps the Republicans, the Democrats’ current paralysis after the overwhelming defeat in the November elections and their lack of leadership also contribute to the honeymoon between voters and the Republican president. The Democrats continue to quarrel in public over who was to blame for Kamala Harris’ defeat and have not yet developed a clear message to confront the current government.

Thus, Trump has not only all the political power but also the media power since he has no adversary to debate with domestically. Hence, the US president’s dominance of the domestic political scene is secure in the short term.

In this regard, Trump has held press conferences almost daily, either with other foreign leaders or Elon Musk. He has also made himself present at massive events such as the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500, monopolizing attention in an absolute way.

In effect, while the media described Biden as an absent president at the end of his term, Trump presents himself to the public as someone who does not rest for a second. Trump understands better than anyone in the US, especially in the digital age, that what is truly important is to be a constant presence because 1,500 platforms and apps compete for people’s attention.

The politician who succeeds is the one who manages to cut through that noise, even if it means saying or doing controversial things or appearing in places that would previously have been considered inappropriate for a head of state.

Although the Trump administration still has virtually four years ahead, at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 22, Vice President JD Vance received 61% support in a straw poll as the likely successor to Trump and the leading candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2028. If the majority of Americans are content with the Trump administration by 2028, it can be expected that Vance will continue the work being done now.

JD Vance

In this way, Trump is setting the foundations for what he hopes will lead to eight years of a Vance presidency, effectively securing his legacy as one of the most important presidents in American history.

To achieve that, Trump must successfully de-escalate many of the global issues the US has provoked and bring economic prosperity to citizens who have long suffered from the cost-of-living crisis. However, this task will prove to be extremely difficult to realize.

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