Americans Split on Trump's Handling of Economy

Editor's note: On Feb. 22, 2021, several entries in the "U.S. Adults' Approval of Presidents' Handling of Economy and Foreign Affairs" table were updated to reflect the accurate percentages.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are split almost evenly on their views of President Donald Trump's handling of the economy, with 48% approving and 47% disapproving. Of four key focuses of the new administration, the economy is the only issue with more Americans approving than disapproving.

	Approve	Disapprove	No opinion
	%	%	%
Overall job approval	42	55	3
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling -- ?
The economy	48	47	5
Foreign trade	45	51	4
Immigration	42	57	1
Foreign affairs	38	57	4
Gallup, Feb. 1-5, 2017

A higher percentage of Americans disapprove than approve of the way Trump is handling foreign trade, immigration and foreign affairs. For these issues, more than half of Americans disapprove. Trump gets his highest approval for how he handles the economy and his lowest for how he handles foreign affairs.

The approval rating of Trump's handling of the economy exceeds his overall job approval rating of 42%, which is down three percentage points from the historically low job approval rating of 45% that he had when he began his presidency.

Opposing-Party Approval Lower for Trump Than Predecessors

Trump scores lower on his handling of the economy and foreign affairs than Barack Obama and George W. Bush did at the beginning of their presidencies.

At the outset of the Obama administration, 59% of Americans approved of his handling of the economy, and 54% approved of his handling of foreign affairs. The comparable ratings at the beginning of Bush's presidency were 53% and 46%, respectively. Compared with Bill Clinton, Trump has a lower approval rating on foreign affairs but gets a slightly higher rating on the economy.

Approval ratings regarding the economy and foreign affairs among those in the opposing party are lower for Trump compared with the opposing-party approval ratings of his three predecessors at the start of their presidencies.

	All Americans	Republicans	Independents	Democrats
	%	%	%	%
Economy
Trump	48	90	44	13
Obama	59	28	59	88
G.W. Bush	53	80	53	30
Clinton	45	26	42	63
Foreign affairs
Trump	38	82	30	6
Obama	54	26	54	79
G.W. Bush	46	73	42	26
Clinton	53	39	51	67
Feb. 1-5, 2017 (Trump); Feb. 9-12, 2009 (Obama); Feb. 1-4, 2001 (Bush); Feb. 12-14, 1993 (Clinton)
Gallup

Just 13% of Democrats approve of Trump's handling of the economy, but 30% of Democrats approved of Bush's handling of that issue. Obama and Clinton received 28% and 25% approval ratings, respectively, from Republicans regarding their handling of the economy.

An even greater political rift exists today in public perceptions of the president's handling of foreign affairs, with only 6% of Democrats approving of Trump's handling of the issue. By contrast, Clinton started his presidency with 39% approval from Republicans on his handling of foreign affairs. Obama and Bush started with 26% approval from Americans who identified as members of the opposing party.

Bottom Line

American presidencies often begin with a "honeymoon" period, during which partisans on both sides of the aisle offer support for the new president. Obama, George W. Bush and Clinton started their presidencies with at least a quarter of Americans in the opposing party expressing approval of their handling of the economy and foreign affairs. With no more than 13% of Democrats approving of Trump on these issues in early February, his honeymoon appears to have never even begun.

Trump's lower approval ratings on the economy and foreign affairs compared with those of his predecessors stem almost entirely from low ratings among independents and Democrats, particularly regarding his handling of foreign affairs. Reports of Trump's controversial statements to the leaders of Russia, China, France, Mexico and Australia may have factored into Americans' low level of confidence in his ability to handle foreign affairs.

But Trump's difficulties go beyond foreign affairs. His approval rating on the economy nearly matches his disapproval rating, and majorities disapprove of his handling of immigration and foreign trade, two signature issues of his campaign. Americans, especially Democrats and independents, perceive a rather rocky start for the new president.

Explore Trump's approval ratings in depth and compare them with those of past presidents in the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center.