ABC NEWS
Today, 538 is unveiling a new polling average for President Donald Trump’s job approval rating. Based on the 11 polls released since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump’s average approval rating starts off at 50 percent, while 43 percent disapprove of the job he is doing as president. You can find a constantly updated estimate of Trump’s approval rating on 538’s polls page, and you can read our full methodology for calculating this average here.
Trump’s initial net approval rating of +7 percentage points is lower than that of any newly elected president since World War II, with one exception: Trump himself during his first term. Trump began his presidency in 2017 with a 44.6 percent approval rating and a 41.4 percent disapproval rating, based on applying our current averaging methodology retroactively. Before that, the record low for initial net approval rating was set by former President George W. Bush in 2001, at +28 points. However, former President Joe Biden started his first term at +22 in 2021.
Trump faces a number of tailwinds and headwinds in his first month in office. His marquee executive order to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and have been accused of crimes is broadly supported by the American public. And an Associated Press/NORC poll conducted earlier this month found a supermajority of adults support deporting immigrants “who have been convicted of a violent crime” — with higher support for immigrants who are here illegally (83 percent) versus those who are here legally (69 percent). There is also support for reducing the number of immigrants coming into America legally, finishing the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and declaring a national border emergency.
But a number of Trump’s early actions also have the potential to spark backlash. Pardoning the people who unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and committed acts of violence is decidedly unpopular, for example, with just 21 percent of adults in favor, according to that AP/NORC poll. Withdrawing from international climate agreements is also generally unpopular, according to the same survey. And there’s Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, too; an Ipsos/New York Times poll from Jan. 2-10 found that Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants who are here illegally, 55 percent to 41 percent.
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