Experts have broken down Donald Trump's approval ratings and how they compare to other presidents at similar times in their terms.
It's been two months since President Trump was sworn into office for the second time on January 20 and polls are giving early indications as to how voters are feeling about his decisions so far.
The POTUS has wasted no time in cracking down on some of his major trade and immigration promises, from inflicting a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union to using an 18th-century wartime law to fuel mass deportations.
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Most controversially, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by his right-hand man and 'First Buddy', Elon Musk, has slashed entire government departments and humanitarian projects in a bid to cut what he deems waste and abuse in the federal budget.
Another major moment includes Trump's heated meeting with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over the ongoing conflict between the country and Russia.
What do Trump's approval ratings show?
Approval ratings seem to show public sentiment is split with a rating of 46 percent, according to Gallup, which is lower than the historical average of US presidents between 1938 to 2025, which sits at 52 percent.
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To compare, Joe Biden had a 54 percent approval rating, Barack Obama had a 64 percent rating and George W. Bush had a 59 percent rating around the same time of their presidency.
John Kennedy had the highest at 72 percent in February 1961.
However, Trump's rating this time around is higher than his 41 percent average approval rating throughout the duration of his first term between 2017 to 2021, and higher than his 39 percent rating during this point in his first term in March 2017.
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Experts predict ratings for all presidents tend to slump off after the 'honeymoon period,' while Costas Panagopoulos, head of political science at Northeastern University, said voters may be showing some reservations about the Trump administration's early policies, as per USA Today.
"There are a lot of people who dismissed other claims and comments that he made during the campaign because they expected that his priorities would be in line with things that they wanted," he told the news outlet, citing economy and inflation as key examples.
"Now they're seeing well that might not be the case."
Yet Panagopoulos stresses the approval ratings come from an already polarized electorate that is exacerbated by fragmented Democrats and the 'united front' of Republicans.
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"At least for now, that might be artificially inflating Trump's approval numbers overall, but specifically among Republicans," he continued. "People are not going to move away from Trump until they have an alternative they can move towards."
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Ukraine, US News, Politics
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