What is Donald Trump's current approval rating? See the most recent polls – The Arizona Republic
President Donald Trump’s approval rating slightly dipped in most polls, nearing record-low levels in some of them, as U.S. strikes in Iran continue and challenges to his tariff policies intensify.
On Thursday, May 7, the U.S. military launched “self-defense strikes” on Iranian targets following “unprovoked” attacks from the Islamic Republic on U.S. Navy vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
No U.S. assets were struck, but U.S. forces hit Iranian military facilities behind the attacks, U.S. military officials said in a statement, adding that the United States does not want to see an “escalation” of the fighting.
Iran says it launched attacks on U.S. Navy assets after American forces tried to seize an Iranian oil tanker. U.S. forces on Wednesday, May 6, struck an Iranian oil tanker, disabling the vessel.
The president called the attacks a “trifle” but said the ceasefire agreement between the two nations still holds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday following a weeks-long feud between President Trump and the pope in which the president called the first American-born pontiff “weak” on crime and accused him of “endangering” Catholics with his opposition to the Iran war.
During his visit, Rubio gifted the head of the Catholic Church a crystal football, and Leo offered the secretary of state a pen made of olive wood. They also discussed “the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement following the meeting.
Just hours after the meeting, Rubio hit Cuba’s military regime and elites with more sanctions, using authority granted to him by President Trump in an executive order he signed last week. The humanitarian crisis on the communist-run island was on the agenda of Rubio’s meeting with the pope.
And in another blow to President Trump’s trade agenda, a federal court ruled Thursday against a 10% global tariff the president imposed this year to replace tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s approval rating, including how they are decided and how Trump’s ratings compare with his first term and past presidents.
Here are the latest approval ratings released about Trump’s administration:
Trump had a final approval rating of 34% when he left office in 2021. His approval average during his first term was 41%.
Data agency Gallup notes that these approval ratings are a “simple measure, yet a very powerful one that has played a key role in politics for over 70 years.”
A president’s approval rating reflects the percentage of Americans polled who approve of the president’s performance. Anything can impact a president’s rating, such as legislation passed, actions and elections.
According to ABC News, an approval rating doesn’t just represent how well the administration is doing for the general public, but could determine the outcome of an upcoming election for a politician or how much they get done during their time in office.
While these ratings are easy to understand, Quorum says some analysts believe they are not as useful as they once were due to extreme partisanship and the polarized political climate.
“Presidential approval ratings have always been partisan, with members of the president’s party offering more positive assessments than those in the opposing party,” according to the Pew Research Center. “But the differences between Republicans and Democrats on views of the president have grown substantially in recent decades.”
USA TODAY Network reporter Maria Francis contributed to this article.