President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have been a big topic of conversation since the election, and he has made headlines by generating record-low positives. However, some people have speculated that the president’s recent military moves seem to have moved the needle a bit. Could overseas military action be the key to turning around public opinion regarding this administration? Are these positive ratings really increasing as some claim?
Trump’s approval rating today sits at 40 percent , according to Gallup, a measurement taken from April 10 through 16. This approval rating is fairly consistent in terms of how this 45th president has been ranking since his administration started, although there have been outliers here and there.
Seeing that Gallup maintains that Trump approval rating may leave some questioning how that can be, given that Donald himself was more than happy to retweet a report indicating that Rasmussen is now reporting a 50 percent approval rating for him now. That report comes from a tracking poll numbers that are new this week, and it includes more specific figures detailing that 32 percent strongly approve of the president’s performance while 39 percent strongly disapprove.
Is that Rasmussen poll really an accurate portrayal of Trump’s approval rating today? As CNN notes, not necessarily . The site dug into those specific poll results and detailed some reasons why people might want to be a bit skeptical of that supposed 50 percent approval rating. Rasmussen doesn’t always disclose as much as some other pollsters about their methodology, and their approach excludes cellphone users, an important point that may well skew the pool of people they survey.
While this particular pollster did get the 2016 election results relatively close compared to most others, they do seem to be an outlier when it comes to Trump’s approval rating today. For example, CNN notes that both CBS News and Marist have released approval ratings for the president recently, and they report numbers of 43 and 39 percent. FiveThirtyEight , the site that analyzes the polls and blends all of the information together to develop weighted averages, currently places the president’s approval rating at 41.7 percent. That number incorporates data from the past 11 days or so, including the potentially controversial Rasmussen numbers.
Some outlets have been speculating that the president could make positive strides in the polling thanks to recent moves he made in both Syria and Afghanistan. Newsweek suggested that the strike in Syria could bump up those numbers, but as Palmer Report details, that hasn’t panned out to be the case, at least not with the Gallup numbers. Despite the numbers coming from the majority of the polling outlets, many conservative outlets are focusing solely on the Rasmussen report and discarding the others.
No matter which numbers one uses, Trump’s approval ratings have lagged behind every other president where tracking is available. Even in close elections, new administrations typically start off with positive numbers and get a bit of a honeymoon period before things drop. When it comes to this administration, however, that has not been the case.
Regardless of which polls people believe at this point, there is little question that the president could use some big wins to pump up support from the general population. Those who have been the most loyal and dedicated since his campaign appear willing to stick with him regardless of any missteps or missed opportunities, but the president’s critics clearly are not going anywhere either.
Certainly, if the president is on the brink of changing public opinion for the better, other polling entities will start to report numbers similar to what Rasmussen details in terms of Trump’s approval ratings hitting 50 percent now. It is not uncommon to see a range in those polling numbers, but at this point, that one does appear to be a significant outlier in relation to the other typical polling resources. People will be watching these approval ratings closely in the months ahead and will be curious to see if President Donald Trump can win the majority of the American people over after a rather rocky start.
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