As of February 18, an Economist/YouGov poll found that 40% of registered voters approved of the job that President Trump is doing as president while 52% disapprove. 37% of women approve of the job he is doing along with 44% of men, while 54% of women disapprove along with 50% of men.
The split between folks who see themselves as supporters of one party or the other could not be clearer. 86% of Republicans approve of the job he is doing while 11% disapprove. And no surprise, 91% of Democrats disapprove of his performance while only 7% approve.
Among Independents, 39% approve of his performance and 48% disapprove.
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, 26% support the president’s performance while 51% disapprove. Among those 65 and older, 49% approve of his performance and 48% 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 February 17 ABC/WP survey, 43% of registered voters approve of the job that the president is doing while 53% disapprove.
An NPR/PBS/Marist survey of registered voters completed on February 16th found 42% approving of how Trump is doing his job (57% of men and 33% of women) and 51% disapproving (42% of men and 60% of women).
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 |
| 2/16/20 | 49% | 48% | 43.4% | 52.2% |
| 1/29/20 | 49% | 50% | 43% | 52.6% |
| 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”.
| Date | NBC / WSJ | WP / ABC | CNN | FOX | QUINNIPIAC |
| FEB ’20 | 47/50 | 46/42 | xx | xx | 43/53 |
| JAN ’20 | 46/51 | 47/50 | 45/51 | 45/54 | 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 | 75% (2/56) |
| Johnson | 73% (2/64) |
| GW Bush | 51% (2/04) |
| Reagan | 55% (2/84) |
| Carter | 55% (2/80) |
| GHW Bush | 39% (2/92) |
| Clinton | 53% (2/96) |
| Nixon | 52% (2/72) |
| Trump | 46% (2/20 – RCP Average) |
| Obama | 47% (2/12) |
On economic policy, Trump’s approval ratings continue to be on a positive track.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 2/12/20 | 53% | 38% | NBC/WSJ (RV) |
| 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 | ||
| 2/18/20 | 46% | 49% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 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 |
51% of Americans favor the decision by the United States Senate not to remove President Trump from office. 47% believe he should have been removed from office. [NBC/WSJ 2/17/20]
The following shows the annualized Gross Domestic Product during the presidencies since Ronald Reagan.
| Reagan (1st term) | 3.1% |
| Reagan (2nd term) | 3.9% |
| G.H.W. Bush | 2.0% |
| Clinton (1st term) | 3.5% |
| Clinton (2nd term) | 4.0% |
| G.W. Bush (1st term) | 2.8% |
| G.W. Bush (2nd term) | 0.5% |
| Obama (1st term) | 2.0% |
| Obama (2nd term) | 2.3% |
| Trump (3/4th of 1st term) | 2.5% |
| [AXIOS] | |
WW Note
Of the number of untoward things that President Trump has done, two have jumped out at me.
First, is the pejorative way in which he referred to Congressman John Dingell who had passed away.
Second, is his recent State of The Union speech, during which Trump awarded the highest civilian award, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Rush Limbaugh, a radio show host who on any given day is racist, sexist, misogynist or homophobic.
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. The chart below reflects the number of Article III court judges appointed by all U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter. The data below does not include the U.S. Court of International Trade.
| Total | Supreme Ct | Appeals Ct | District Ct | |
| Trump – thru 2/12/20 | 190 | 2 | 51 | 137 |
| 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, 32 seats in 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]
As of early 2020, the Washington Post Fact Checker has recorded 16,241 false or misleading claims by Trump.
Disassembling
President Trump has proposed massive domestic spending cuts in his proposed $4.8 trillion election year budget. Twelve departments or agencies are cut while five receive increases.
| Commerce | -37% | Defense | + 0.1% |
| EPA | -27% | Treasury | + 2.0% |
| State and USAID | -22% | Homeland Security | + 3.0% |
| HUD | -15% | NASA | +12.0% |
| Interior | -13% | Veterans Affairs | +13.0% |
| Transportation | -13% | ||
| Labor | -11% | ||
| HHS | -9% | ||
| Agriculture | -8% | ||
| Energy | -8% | ||
| Education | -8% | ||
| Justice | -2% | ||
| [WP 2/11/2020] | |||
A proposed change by the Department of Agriculture to the federal food stamp program would leave more than 3 million people without access to food through SNAP and cause nearly a million children to lose their automatic enrollment in the national school breakfast and lunch programs. [NBC News 2/6/20]
The Trump administration has finalized plans to permit drilling, grazing and other forms of development across a broad section of southern Utah that used to be protected as part of two national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. This comes after the president cut the size of both monuments. [WP 2/6/2020]
Under a new rule, consular officers abroad may reject visa applications from women they believe are planning to enter the United States specifically to gain citizenship for their children by giving birth. Visas covered by these new rules are issued to those seeking to visit for pleasure, medical treatment or to see friends and family. [NYT 1/23/2020]
The EPA plans to declare that it is not “appropriate and necessary” for the government to limit harmful pollutants from power plants, even though every utility in America has complied with standards put in place in 2013. [WP 2/19/20]