Trump's Job Approval in First Quarter Lowest by 14 Points

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Donald Trump averaged 41% job approval during his first quarter as president, 14 percentage points lower than any other president in Gallup's polling history. Bill Clinton had the previous low mark of 55%. The average first-quarter rating among post-World War II presidents elected to their first term is 61%, with John Kennedy's 74% the highest.

The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 20 through April 19. During this time, Trump's approval rating ranged from a low of 35% -- in the days after Republicans' failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act -- to a high of 46% shortly after his inauguration.

Gallup's latest estimate of the president's job approval rating, based on April 17-19 interviewing, is 43%.

No president before Trump had an initial approval rating below 50%. His poor debut followed his subpar ratings on other measures during the presidential campaign and his presidential transition.

In mid-February, before the end of Trump's first month, his approval rating briefly fell below 40%, earlier in his presidency than anyone before him. In the second half of March, Trump had sub-40% job approval more consistently. Clinton is the only other president to register sub-40% approval ratings in his first year, having done so in June 1993 -- less than five months after he took office.

While Trump has yet to register majority approval, most presidents stayed above the 50% level for a full year or more after taking office. In addition to Clinton, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan were exceptions to that pattern; both of them dipped below majority approval in November of their first year.

Trump as Popular in His Own Party as Past Presidents

One area in which Trump matches prior elected presidents is the support he receives from his fellow partisans. An average of 87% of Republicans have approved of the job Trump is doing to this point. The average first-quarter approval rating among those who identify with the president's party had been 83% before Trump. The last three presidents, including Trump, have all done better than that, as opinions of the president have become more closely tied to Americans' partisan leanings in recent decades.

	Year	President's party	Approval
			%
Eisenhower	1953	Republican	86
Kennedy	1961	Democrat	86
Nixon	1969	Republican	82
Carter	1977	Democrat	79
Reagan	1981	Republican	83
G.H.W. Bush	1989	Republican	78
Clinton	1993	Democrat	78
G.W. Bush	2001	Republican	89
Obama	2009	Democrat	90
Trump	2017	Republican	87
Average before Trump			83
Approval for Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, G.W. Bush, Trump is among Republicans; approval for Kennedy, Carter, Clinton, Obama is among Democrats
Gallup

At the same time that strong partisanship has kept Trump's approval high among Republicans, it has kept it low among Democrats. Only 9% of Democrats on average have approved of the job Trump is doing to date. That is nearly 20 points lower than any other president has received from supporters of the opposition party and 35 points below the pre-Trump historical average opposition-party approval rating.

	Year	President's party	Approval, opposition party
			%
Eisenhower	1953	Republican	61
Kennedy	1961	Democrat	58
Nixon	1969	Republican	50
Carter	1977	Democrat	54
Reagan	1981	Republican	43
G.H.W. Bush	1989	Republican	42
Clinton	1993	Democrat	28
G.W. Bush	2001	Republican	32
Obama	2009	Democrat	30
Trump	2017	Republican	9
Average prior to Trump			44
Approval for Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, G.W. Bush, Trump is among Democrats; approval for Kennedy, Carter, Clinton, Obama is among Republicans
Gallup

The historical trends are clear. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower through Jimmy Carter enjoyed approval of 50% or higher among supporters of the opposition party during their first quarter as president. By the time Reagan and George H.W. Bush came into office, opposition approval had fallen below the majority level but still exceeded 40%. The three presidents immediately before Trump got worse ratings from those who identified with the other major political party, but still roughly 30% approved in those presidents' initial months in office.

Independents Also Give Trump Poor Reviews

Trump's anemic early approval is also attributable to historically low ratings from political independents. To date, 37% of independents have approved of the job Trump is doing, on average. All other newly elected presidents had 51% or higher approval among independents during their first quarters, with the historical average before Trump at 61%.

	Year	President's party	Approval, independents
			%
Eisenhower	1953	Republican	70
Kennedy	1961	Democrat	70
Nixon	1969	Republican	60
Carter	1977	Democrat	66
Reagan	1981	Republican	63
G.H.W. Bush	1989	Republican	51
Clinton	1993	Democrat	51
G.W. Bush	2001	Republican	55
Obama	2009	Democrat	60
Trump	2017	Republican	37
Average before Trump			61
Gallup

Independents' approval ratings show a similar pattern over time to that of Democrats. Eisenhower and Kennedy had approval ratings of 70% among independents. Richard Nixon, Carter and Reagan had approval in the 60% range, but ratings were between 51% and 60% for the most recent presidents before Trump.

Many independents have partisan leanings, and it is likely that those who lean toward the opposition party are disinclined to express approval of the president in the current political environment.

Implications

Trump won election using a campaign that flouted norms of political decorum and relied heavily on social media to spread his, at times, controversial messages. His unconventional style suggested his presidency would be like nothing seen before. And that has been true, but likely not in the way he or his supporters hoped -- with no honeymoon period to speak of and approval ratings far worse than any president has received this early in his tenure. On his best day, less than half of Americans, 46%, have approved of the job Trump is doing.

Near the 100-day mark in his presidency, his approval rating has settled near 40%. Whether foiled by his own party or outside forces, Trump has not been able to deliver on many of his campaign promises thus far, including repealing the ACA and tightening access to the U.S. from several majority-Muslim countries. He did fulfill his promise of adding a conservative justice to the Supreme Court after Senate Republicans employed the "nuclear option" to eliminate the minority party's ability to filibuster high-court nominations.

If Trump hopes to avoid setting a new low in average job approval for an entire presidency -- Harry Truman's 45.4% average is the lowest in Gallup's history -- he would need to improve his ratings among independents and Democrats, because the vast majority of Republicans already support him. But in an era of intense partisanship, Democrats' approval of Trump may not budge much from its current level near 10%, similar to the way in which Republicans' opinions of Obama held near 10% after his first year in office.

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.