As of January 14, an Economist/YouGov poll found that 46% of registered voters approved of the job that President Trump is doing as president while 50% disapprove. 39% of women approve of the job he is doing along with 48% of men, while 50% of women disapprove along with 44% of men.
The split between folks who see themselves as supporters of one party or the other could not be more clear. 85% of Republicans approve of the job he is doing while 11% disapprove. And no surprise, 86% of Democrats disapprove of his performance while only 11% approve.
Among Independents, 42% approve of his performance and 41% disapprove. 17% of independents did not express an opinion while only 4% of Democrats and 3% of Republicans did not have an opinion.
An interesting dichotomy that this survey demonstrates is the role that age seems to play in levels of support for the president’s performance. Among those between the ages of 18-29, 32% support the president’s performance while 52% disapprove. Among those 65 and older, 51% approve of his performance and 47% disapprove. This split based on age can be found on a variety of issues from immigration to healthcare to the environment and abortion.
In a January 14 Reuters/Ipsos survey, 38% of registered voters approve of the job that the president is doing while 56% disapprove. 45% of registered voters think the president should be removed from office while 34% think the charges should be dismissed.
A Quinnipiac survey of registered voters completed on January 12th found 43% approving of how Trump is doing his job (48% of men and 38% of women) and 52% disapproving (46% of men and 58% of women). 46% believe that the Senate should vote to remove Trump from office, while 48% think they should not vote to remove him from office.
Gallup now does monthly or semi-monthly surveys. WW will include a periodic polling summary–Registered and Likely Voters–by FiveThirtyEight.
| Gallup (all adults) | FiveThirtyEight (Registered / Likely voters) | |||
| Date | Approval | Dis-approval | Approval | Dis-approval |
| 1/15/20 | 44% | 53% | 42.4% | 53.0% |
| 12/15/19 | 45% | 51% | 44.1% | 52.8% |
| 11/14/19 | 43% | 54% | 41% | 54.7% |
| 10/31/19 | 41% | 57% | 42% | 53.9% |
| 9/30/19 | 40% | 56% | 42.1% | 53.8% |
| 8/30/19 | 39% | 57% | 41.3% | 54.2% |
| 6/16/19 | 43% | 55% | 42.6% | 53.0% |
| 1/27/19 | 37% | 59% | 40.4% | 55.6% |
| 9/30/18 | 42% | 53% | 41.5% | 52.7% |
| 1/14/18 | 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” or “L” which means “likely voters”. (CBS has apparently stopped polling.)
| Date | NBC / WSJ | WP / ABC | CNN | FOX | QUINNIPIAC |
| JAN ’20 | xx | xx | 45/51 | xx | 43/52 |
| DEC ’19 | 44/54A | xx | 44/52 | 45/53 | 43/52 |
| NOV ’19 | xx | xx | 43/53 | xx | 40/54 |
| OCT ’19 | 45/53A | 39/59 | xx | 42/57 | 38/58 |
| OCT ’19 | 43/53A | 38/58A | 42/57 | 43/55 | 41/54 |
| JUL ’19 | 45/52 | 47/50 | xx | 46/51 | 40/54 |
| CBS | FOX | ||||
| JAN ’19 | 43/54A | 38/58 | 37/57A | 36/59A | 43/54 |
| DEC ’18 | 43/54A | xx | 39/52 | xx | 46/52 |
| JAN ’18 | 39/57A | 38/58 | 43/53 | 37/58cbsA | 45/53 |
| DEC ’17 | 41/56 | xx | 36/59cnn | 36/57A | xx |
| JAN ’17 | xx | xx | 44/53 | 40/48A | xx |
The following are presidential job approval numbers from Gallup roughly 35 months into their first term (Johnson is an exception). Since Gallup is no longer providing a steady stream of approval ratings, WW will use various other surveys to provide approval numbers on the current president when timely Gallup numbers are not available.
| Eisenhower | 76% (1/56) |
| Johnson | 77% (1/64) |
| GW Bush | 60% (1/04) |
| Reagan | 52% (1/84) |
| Carter | 56% (1/80) |
| GHW Bush | 46% (1/92) |
| Clinton | 42% (1/96) |
| Nixon | 49% (1/72) |
| Trump | 44.3% (1/20 – RCP Average) |
| Obama | 46% (1/12) |
On economic policy, Trump’s approval ratings continue to be on a positive track.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 1/12/20 | 57% | 38% | Quinnipiac |
| 12/3/19 | 52% | 42% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 10/22/19 | 49% | 45% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 9/9/19 | 48% | 48% | CNN (RV) |
| 7/23/19 | 52% | 41% | Fox News (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 47% | 46% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 1/16/18 | 46% | 49% | CBS News |
On foreign policy, Trump’s approval ratings remain in negative territory.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 1/12/20 | 43% | 53% | Quinnipiac |
| 12/3/19 | 45% | 49% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 10/22/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 9/9/19 | 40% | 50% | CNN (RV) |
| 7/30/19 | 41% | 51% | Economist (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 7/18/18 | 38% | 45% | NBC/WSJ |
| 1/16/18 | 36% | 60% | NBC/WSJ |
83% of black Americans say Trump is a racist and 90% disapprove of his job performance. [WP/Ipsos poll 1/8/20]
Judges Nominated and Confirmed to Date
Because the U.S. Senate remains in Republican hands and the filibuster is no more, the President can continue unchecked his goal of remaking the federal judiciary.
| Total | Supreme Ct | Appeals Ct | District Ct | |
| Trump – thru 12/5/19 | 187 | 2 | 50 | 133 |
| Obama – 8 years | 329 | 2 | 55 | 268 |
| GW Bush – 8 years | 327 | 2 | 62 | 261 |
| Clinton – 8 years | 378 | 2 | 66 | 305 |
| GHW Bush – 4 years | 193 | 2 | 42 | 148 |
| Reagan | 383 | 3 | 83 | 290 |
| Carter | 262 | 0 | 56 | 203 |
There are currently several nominations awaiting Senate action: 1 seat on the Courts of Appeals and 16 seats on the District Courts.
There is currently one vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals and 70 vacancies on the U.S. District Courts. [USCourts/Wikipedia/List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump]
The S&P 500 had a return of over 50% during President Trump’s first three years in office, more than doubling the average return of 23% at the same point in a presidential term since 1928. [Axios PM 12/26/19]
As of December 31, 2019, the Washington Post Fact Checker has recorded 16,241 false or misleading claims by Trump.
Disassembling
The backlog of 34 unfunded Superfund clean-up projects under the Trump administration is the largest in 15 years. [Morning Consult 1/5/20]
The White House is introducing major changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed new rules will narrow the range of projects that require a full environmental review. A new category of “non-major” federal actions that can move forward without any assessment. The changes have been criticized by a panel of scientific advisers most of whom were appointed by President Trump. [WP 12/31/19, NYT 1/9/20]
HUD will propose new rules that will weaken enforcement of fair housing laws. Fair housing advocates claim the proposed rule changes reduce the pressure on local governments to end residential segregation and discrimination as required by the 1968 Fair Housing Act. [WP 1/3/20]
HHS and CMS finalized new rules for insurers who offer plans through the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges and cover abortion services. Insurers will soon have to send recipients separate bills – one just for any abortion services and one for all the other health services that are covered. The goal is to ensure that no federal dollars contribute to covering the procedure. [Stat Morning Rounds 12/23/19]
America’s food inspectors say that “unsafe” pork is likely making it to consumers under a change in rules for meat inspection. A new process will speed up processing lines and slash the number of inspectors at pork plants.
[NBC News 12/16/19]
Under new Food and Nutrition Service rules proposed, schools could cut the amount of fruits and vegetables in school meals and have the ability to serve more pizza and burgers. The new rules would also allow potatoes to be served as a vegetable on a daily basis. These rules would weaken Michelle Obama’s effort to instill stricter nutrition standards. [Daily Beast 1/17/20]
Department of Human Services has agreed to share information with the Census Bureau to create data about the citizenship status of every person residing in the U.S. even though the Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. [NPR/Morning Shift 1/6/20]