… The gold standard of approval ratings is compiled by Gallup, the firm that helped create public polling and that has been sampling America’s opinion of its presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gallup compiles daily running and weekly averages that it used to track how popular presidents are. By neither […] Read more »
Trump Is Down to 38% Approval. How Much Does It Mean?
Donald J. Trump won the presidential election as the least popular candidate in the polling era. He assumed the presidency with the lowest approval rating of any incoming president. And his ratings have continued to fall. The question isn’t whether it’s bad for Mr. Trump and the Republicans, but how […] Read more »
Trump’s approval rating just hit a new low. But does he even care?
President Trump had a moment of clarity during his wild press conference Thursday. Ever the poll-doubter, he actually acknowledged his polling reality. “Some of the things I’m doing probably aren’t popular, but they’re necessary for security and for other reasons,” Trump said. That right there suggests all of Trump’s bluster […] Read more »
Trump Job Approval 21 Points Below Average at One-Month Mark
President Donald Trump’s 40% job approval rating about one month into his presidency is 21 percentage points below the historical average rating for elected presidents in mid-February (61%). It is also 11 points below the lowest mid-February reading for any other president. CONT. Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup Read more »
A basic question when reading a poll: Does it include or exclude nonvoters?
The early days of a new presidential administration produce not just a blizzard of news but a blizzard of numbers. Pollsters of all stripes race to get and report Americans’ first impressions of their new president. But, frustratingly, those reports don’t always match up as precisely as the Type A […] Read more »
Congressional critics do check presidential power — by leading public opinion
Abraham Lincoln said that “public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.” But in a polarized polity, can public opinion ever check presidential power? Our research suggests that it can. But Congress has an important role in jump-starting this popular constraint. CONT. Douglas […] Read more »