A CNN poll found 52% of respondents disapprove of Trump’s performance in office.
Trump to address joint session of CongressPresident Donald Trump is expected to celebrate his administration’s…
President Donald Trump is set to address a joint session of Congress Tuesday night amid sagging approval ratings, according to recent polling data, even as he maintains he has a “resounding” mandate from Americans who elected him and will likely use his prime-time speech to justify his actions so far and going forward.
A key question: If his numbers remain relatively low amid his controversial moves, how long might it be before backing from congressional Republicans starts to flag as well?
As of Monday, 538’s polling average of Trump approval indicates that 48.1% approve while 47.8% disapprove. 538’s polling average also found that 48.2% have an unfavorable opinion of Trump while 46.5% have a favorable one.
With just more than a month in office, a CNN poll out Sunday shows that 52% of respondents disapprove of Trump’sy performance in office so far. Forty-eight percent approve of his performance, the poll found.
The survey — conducted from Feb. 24-28 — before the explosive argument between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office Friday afternoon — also found that a majority of respondents said Trump has not adequately addressed the country’s most pressing concerns.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vice President JD Vance reacts at the…Show more
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Last week, a separate Washington Post/Ipsos Poll found Trump’s approval rating at 45% with 53% of Americans disapproving. Also, 57% said the president has exceeded his authority since taking office.
The poll also found that only 34% approve of how Elon Musk is handling his role in firing federal workers as part of the Department of Government Efficiency — with 49% disapproving.
Dean Lacy, professor of government at Dartmouth College, said he anticipates Trump’s approval rating may hover around these numbers for some time.
“He’s probably going to be locked around a 50% approval rating for a while,” Lacy said. “The approval rating itself, the numbers maybe don’t indicate the depth of sentiment toward him, even though his approval rating is 50-52%. I think he has a 40-45% of the public that loves him and 40 or 45% that despises him. And that’s not going to change much, regardless of what he does. It would take a lot to shake up.”
Trump’s approval rating numbers come as Republicans have been facing pushback from constituents angry about Trump’s role in Musk’s cuts across the federal government.
Many Republicans are grappling with how to align with Trump and still appease constituents moving forward, Lacy said.
“The harder issues, the bigger issues, the tougher issues are coming up, and those are the ones that people will be deciding how to vote on in another two years,” he said.