On March 31, 2018, Gallup found that 40% of Americans approve of President Trump’s job performance and 55% disapprove.
Beginning in 2018, Gallup is no longer providing a daily approval rating of the president. In the future, these reports will be dated weekly.
| Date | Approval | Disapproval |
| 3/31/18 | 40% | 55% |
| 3/25/18 | 39% | 55% |
| 3/11/18 | 39% | 56% |
| 2/25/18 | 39% | 56% |
| 2/11/18 | 40% | 57% |
| 1/28/18 | 38% | 58% |
| 1/14/18 | 38% | 57% |
| 12/31/17 | 39% | 55% |
| 12/1/17 | 33% | 62% |
| 11/1/17 | 38% | 58% |
| 10/1/17 | 37% | 57% |
| 9/1/17 | 34% | 61% |
| 4/1/17 | 38% | 57% |
The following are some additional looks at the President’s job performance. The numbers below are of registered voters unless followed by an “A” which means all voters. [QUPIAC = Quinnipiac]
| Date | NBC / WSJ | WP / ABC | CNN / ORC | NYT / CBS | FOX | QUPIAC |
| MAR ’18 | 43/53A | xx | 42/54 | 38/57cbsA | 45/52 | 40/53 |
| FEB ’18 | xx | xx | 39/56 | xx | 43/53 | 37/38 |
| JAN ’18 | 39/57A | 38/58 | 43/53 | 37/58cbsA | 45/53 | 36/58 |
| DEC | 41/56 | xxx | 36/59cnn | 36/57 cbsA | xxx | 37/57 |
| NOV | xxx | xxx | 38/57cnn | xxx | xxx | 38/55 |
| OCT | 38/58 A | 37/59 | 38/57cnn | 39/55cbsA | 38/57 | 38/56 |
| SEPT | 43/52 A | 42/54 | 37/56cnnA | xxx | 42/53 | 36/57 |
| JULY | xxx | 36/58A | xxx | xxx | 41/53 | xxx |
| MAY | 39/54 | xxx | xxx | xxx | 40/53 | 37/55 |
| APR | 40/54 | 42/53 | 44/54 | 43/49 cbs | xxx | 35/57 |
| JAN | xxx | xxx | 44/53 | 40/48 cbs | xxx | 36/44 |
The following is a partial breakdown of the participants of the CNN survey in March.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| Men | 50% | 45% |
| Women | 34 | 63 |
| Whites | 48 | 47 |
| Non-white | 29 | 67 |
| 18-34 years | 29 | 67 |
| 35-49 years | 45 | 50 |
| 50-64 years | 50 | 48 |
| 65+ years | 43 | 53 |
| Republicans | 86 | 11 |
| Independents | 42 | 52 |
| Democrats | 5 | 93 |
| Registered Voters | 43 | 53 |
The following are job approval numbers from Gallup for the last nine presidents and Trump. As you can see, Trump’s job approval rating by the public at large is the worst of any president at this point in their tenure going back to Ronald Reagan.
Job Approval – Roughly 15 months into the 1st term
| GW Bush | 76% (4/02) |
| Kennedy | 77% (4/62) |
| GHW Bush | 68% (4/90) |
| Eisenhower | 68% (4/54) |
| Nixon | 56% (4/70) |
| Cliton | 51% (4/94) |
| Carter | 48% (4/78) |
| Obama | 47% (4/10) |
| Reagan | 45% (4/82) |
| Trump | 40% (4/18) |
On the economy, Trump’s approval ratings have been within a 5 point range since the spring. His disapproval rating has been within an 11 point range since the spring.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| 3/11/18 | 46% | 48% |
| 2/27/18 | 49% | 44% |
| 1/16/18 | 46% | 49% |
| 12/5/17 | 42% | 52% |
| 10/30/17 | 46% | 47% |
| 9/24/17 | 43% | 46% |
| 8/6/17 | 46% | 45% |
| 6/18/17 | 42% | 51% |
| 4/24/17 | 43% | 49% |
| 3/28/17 | 44% | 55% |
| [CBS News] | ||
On foreign policy, Trump’s approval ratings have been within a 8 point range since the spring and his disapproval rating been in 9point since the spring. Trump has not been even close to a positive rating this past year.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| 3/25/18 | 41% | 52% [CNN] |
| 3/5/18 | 33% | 61% |
| 2/5/18 | 37% | 57% |
| 1/16/18 | 36% | 60% |
| 11/13/17 | 37% | 58% |
| 10/10/17 | 38% | 58% |
| 9/26/17 | 38% | 57% |
| 8/15/17 | 39% | 58% |
| 6/27/17 | 38% | 57% |
| 4/18/17 | 40% | 56% |
| [Quinnipiac] | ||
Here is what American voters say about the President:
by 62 to 35% that he is a strong person
by 57 to 38% that he is intelligent
by 57 to 38% that the President is not honest.
by 56 to 41% that the President does not have good leadership skills
by 53 to 43% that he does not care about average Americans
by 64 to 32% that the President is not level headed
by 59 to 37% that he does not share their values
[Quinnipiac, 3/20/18]
45% are less confident about the Trump administration given recent staffing changes at the White House and in the cabinet. 16% are more confident. [Fox News, 3/21/18]
About President Trump
In Trump’s world, FAKE NEWS is defined as news reports that the President does not agree with, like or accept.
Jim Vandehei, the co-founder of Axios, suggests doing the following if you want to get President Trump to do something:
Tell him it has never been done before.
Tell him the lawyers would never allow it.
Tell him the establishment would go crazy.
The President continues to lack the fortitude to fire people directly if the person is someone who reports directly to the President in a senior role.
The most recent example is Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. The day before he was terminated he had a long conversation with Trump about issues at the VA. His potential termination – which was obviously in the works – never came up according to Shulkin.
The next day Shulkin received a phone call from Chief of Staff Kelly informing him what was about to happen. His firing was once again announced by the President on Twitter. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the first to be fired by Tweet. Tillerson refused to accept his demise until he talked to Trump. [WW]
The President has nominated as the new head of the Veterans Administration Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, the Navy physician who for the last 12 years has served as the White House physician. He served in this role during the last two years of the administration of George W. Bush, the eight years of the Obama administration and the time since Trump took office. He is best known for his televised discussion of President Trump’s “excellent” health.
Jackson has no administrative experience other than running the White House medical office which has some 40 members. [WW]
60% believe that President Trump does not respect women as much as he respects men. 37% say he respects women as much as men. Among 18-34 year olds, 69% say he does not respect women as much as men. [Quinnipiac, 3/20/18]
While giving a speech in Richfield, Ohio on March 29th, President Trump dismissed the community college system. He said, “We do not know what a ‘community college’ means”.
In fact, “more than 40 percent of the country’s undergraduates are enrolled in community colleges.” Roughly 9 million undergraduates were enrolled in community colleges in the 2015-2016 school year. One in three community college students transfer to a bachelor granting institution within six years. [The Atlantic, 3/30/18]
Peter Hart describes the underlying fear and uncertainty among voters as being driven by the events and decisions President Trump is making and, more importantly, how he seems to arrive at these decisions. To the voters, life, government and their President seems unbalanced. There is a sense of chaos and uncertainty that comes from the President who provides no road map or stable plan which is laid out or carefully considered to deal with the issues of the day. The 2018 election is not about a new agenda, but a psychological state of re-balancing and stabilizing things that seem to have spun out of control. [Peter Hart is one of the authors of the NBC/WSJ survey]