Race, Education, Gender Key Factors in Trump Job Approval

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Among major U.S. demographic groups, white men without a college degree are most likely to approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president. Blacks and nonwhite women are among the groups least likely to approve of Trump.

 

The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 20 through March 8. Over this period, 42% of Americans, on average, approved of the job Trump is doing.

The large samples obtained in the daily tracking allow Gallup to analyze patterns of Trump job approval among major demographic characteristics such as race, age and gender, but also combinations of those characteristics. Analysis of the demographic groups with the highest and lowest job approval ratings for Trump suggests that race, education and gender are key differentiators in people's opinions of how the president is doing his job.

The demographic groups giving Trump his highest approval ratings generally share one or more of these common characteristics: non-Hispanic white, male, and not having a college degree. Roughly two-thirds of Americans who possess all three of those characteristics approve of Trump. Trump also tends to fare better among older than among younger subgroups.

At the other extreme, the demographic subgroups with the lowest approval ratings are all nonwhite. Also, education appears to make little or no difference in nonwhites' opinions of Trump.

Full results by demographic category can be found at the end of this article.

To a large degree, these demographic differences in Trump job approval reflect the underlying partisan leanings of the demographic groups. For example, white men without a college education are most likely to identify as Republicans, and blacks largely identify as Democrats. However, the various demographic characteristics (including race, gender and education) do appear to have a modest additional effect on Republicans' and Democrats' views of Trump, and they play a more significant role in shaping Trump approval among political independents.

Overall, 88% of Republicans, 38% of independents and 10% of Democrats approve of the job Trump is doing.

Race and Ethnicity

Among non-Hispanic whites, 54% approve of the job Trump is doing, making whites one of relatively few subgroups giving the president majority approval ratings. Whites' job approval is at least twice as high as that of any other major racial or ethnic group -- 27% of Asians, 22% of Hispanics and 13% of blacks approve of the job Trump is doing.

 

Gender

In addition to the racial differences, there is a significant gender gap of 13 percentage points in Trump's job approval, with 49% of men and 36% of women approving. White men (60%) and white women (48%) are far more likely than nonwhite men (26%) and nonwhite women (14%) to approve of Trump. Despite these differences, the gender gaps for whites and nonwhites are the same, 12 points each. The gender gap is also apparent within age and educational groups.

	Approve	Disapprove	N
	%	%
Gender
Men	49	45	12,915
Women	36	58	11,396
Gender by race
White men	60	36	9,128
White women	48	48	8,290
Nonwhite men	26	64	3,293
Nonwhite women	14	79	2,791
Gender by age
Men, 18 to 29 years old	38	55	2,162
Women, 18 to 29 years old	24	71	1,418
Men, 30 to 49 years old	46	47	3,753
Women, 30 to 49 years old	33	61	2,713
Men, 50+ years old	56	38	6,830
Women, 50+ years old	44	51	7,049
Gender by education
Men, college graduate	44	53	5,801
Women, college graduate	30	67	4,883
Men, college nongraduate	51	42	7,058
Women, college nongraduate	39	54	6,451
Gallup U.S. Daily, Jan. 20-March 8, 2017

Education

Educational differences in Trump job approval are muted when one looks at the broader population of all U.S. adults, partly because of differences in educational attainment by race. Most generally, 37% of all college graduates and 45% of all college nongraduates approve of Trump. But there are larger distinctions within those broad groups. For example, those with postgraduate education are the most divergent in their views of the president -- just 31% of this group approves of Trump, compared with 41% of those with a bachelor's degree, 47% of those with some college education and 44% of those with a high school education or less.

Education is a factor in ratings of Trump only among whites -- nonwhites' approval ratings are identical regardless of educational attainment. But there is nearly a 20-point difference in approval between white college graduates (41%) and white college nongraduates (60%).

	Approve	Disapprove	N
	%	%
College graduate
Yes	37	60	10,684
No	45	48	13,509
Educational attainment in detail
Postgraduate education	31	65	4,808
Four-year degree only	41	56	5,876
Some college education	47	48	6,916
High school or less	44	48	6,593
College graduate by race
White, college graduate	41	56	8,313
White, college nongraduate	60	34	9,041
Nonwhite, college graduate	20	75	2,093
Nonwhite, college nongraduate	20	71	3,966
Gallup U.S. Daily, Jan. 20-March 8, 2017

Age

Roughly half of Americans aged 50 and older approve of Trump. Trump's approval rating falls to 39% among those between the ages of 30 and 49, and drops further to 31% among those younger than 30.

As shown in the gender table, Trump's approval rating ranges from a low of 24% among women younger than 30 to a high of 56% among men aged 50 or older.

Educational differences also persist by age group -- college nongraduates' approval of Trump is roughly 10 points higher than college graduates' approval in each age bracket.

Like education, age appears to matter little in nonwhites' ratings, as Trump approval is near 20% for nonwhites regardless of age. However, Trump approval increases significantly in each successive age group among whites.

	Approve	Disapprove	N
	%	%
Age
18 to 29 years old	31	63	3,580
30 to 49 years old	39	54	6,466
50 years and older	49	46	13,879
Age by college graduate
18 to 29 years, college graduate	25	71	1,123
18 to 29 years, college nongraduate	33	61	2,446
30 to 49 years, college graduate	33	63	3,288
30 to 49 years, college nongraduate	43	49	3,157
50+ years, college graduate	43	55	6,072
50+ years, college nongraduate	53	41	7,746
Age by race
18 to 29 years, white	44	51	1,951
18 to 29 years, nonwhite	17	76	1,530
30 to 49 years, white	52	44	4,076
30 to 49 years, nonwhite	21	70	2,186
50+ years, white	58	38	11,135
50+ years, nonwhite	20	70	2,294
Gallup U.S. Daily, Jan. 20-March 8, 2017

Bottom Line

Trump's electoral coalition was different from that of his immediate predecessor. Barack Obama won election in large part because of his solid support among blacks and other nonwhites, as well as Americans with the most formal education. Those groups were among Obama's strongest backers throughout his presidency, but Trump's support is lacking among the same subgroups. Rather, Trump's strongest backers tend to be older, white, male and those who do not hold college degrees.

While racial and gender gaps have long been apparent in presidential ratings, the education and age gaps for Trump differ from those of the last Republican president. During George W. Bush's presidency, older Americans and younger Americans had identical average 46% job approval ratings, while Bush's approval was higher among middle-aged groups. Also, Bush's approval ratings tended to be lower among postgraduates (44%) and those with a high school education or less (48%), but higher among those with a bachelor's degree (53%) or some college education (52%).

While partisanship is the overriding factor in Americans' assessments of presidents, the patterns of support among demographic groups can change, depending on a president's relative appeal to certain groups as well as potential changes in the way those groups align themselves between the major parties.

These data are available in Gallup Analytics.

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

 

	Approve
	%
U.S. ADULTS	42
Republican	88
Conservative	73
White, male, college nongraduate	67
White, college nongraduate	60
White male	60
White, 50+ years old	58
Male, 50+ years old	56
Married man	55
White, female, college nongraduate	54
White	54
College nongraduate, 50+ years old	53
White, 30 to 49 years old	52
Male, college nongraduate	51
Married	50
50+ years old	49
Male	49
White female	48
White, male, college graduate	48
South	47
Midwest	47
Some college	47
$36,000 to $89,999 annual household income	46
Male, 30 to 49 years old	46
$90,000 or more annual household income	46
Female, 50+ years old	44
High school education or less	44
Male, college graduate	44
Married woman	44
White, 18 to 29 years old	44
Noncollege graduate, 30 to 49 years old	43
College graduate, 50+ years old	43
Unmarried man	42
White college graduate	41
College graduate (four-year degree) only	41
Female, college nongraduate	39
30 to 49 years old	39
Independent party identification	38
Male, 18 to 29 years old	38
West	37
Female	36
East	36
Moderate	36
Not married	35
Less than $36,000 annual household income	35
White, female, college graduate	35
Female, 30 to 49 years old	33
Noncollege graduate, 18 to 29 years old	33
College graduate, 30 to 49 years old	33
Postgraduate education	31
18 to 29 years old	31
Female, college graduate	30
Unmarried woman	29
Asian	27
Nonwhite, male, college graduate	27
Nonwhite male	26
Nonwhite, male, college nongraduate	26
College graduate, 18 to 29 years old	25
Female, 18 to 29 years old	24
Hispanic	22
Nonwhite, 30 to 49 years old	21
Nonwhite, college graduate	20
Nonwhite, college nongraduate	20
Nonwhite, 50+ years old	20
Nonwhite	20
Nonwhite, 18 to 29 years old	17
Nonwhite, female, college graduate	15
Nonwhite female	14
Nonwhite, female, college nongraduate	14
Black	13
Liberal	12
Democrat	10
Gallup U.S. Daily, Jan. 20-March 8, 2017