After a period of stagnation, President Donald Trump’s approval rating has inched upward in recent polling to reach its strongest point in several months.
The shift comes after months of relatively weak and flat numbers for the president. In late November, support levels hovered near recent lows, with some national trackers showing approval around the low 40s, reflecting the persistent divide in how Americans view his performance in office.
Decision Desk HQ, a nonpartisan polling aggregator that combines results from reputable polls that meet strict methodological standards, shows a modest uptick in Trump’s approval in the first weeks of January, reversing a downward pattern that had lasted through late 2025. Ballotpedia’s daily polling index, which also averages recent national surveys, reflects a similar direction of movement.
VoteHub, another widely cited tracker that weights more recent polls more heavily, displays the same trend, a slight rise in overall support for the president as the new year begins.
The improvements do not elevate Trump to the category of a popular president, but it’s still a move in the right direction after hitting some of his lowest poll numbers of both his presidencies.
While the improvement is statistically noteworthy, disapproval still outpaces approval across many national measures. But the shift matters politically because it suggests the president has stabilized the wide range of public opinion after periods of dips and plateaus that track with major policy moves and national events.
According to the latest aggregated figures, Trump’s approval sits several points above recent monthly lows, placing him at a level he hasn’t consistently held since late summer and early fall of last year.
Political analysts note that aggregate trackers like Decision Desk HQ and Ballotpedia are designed to smooth out the noise from individual polls, dulling the impact of outlier results and providing a more stable picture of opinion over time. That consistency has shown the president’s standing moving off its most recent trough and toward a higher range.
Scott Tranter, director of data science at Decision Desk HQ, described the latest numbers in context, stating, “Roughly a year in, he’s right in the middle. He’s right where, basically, he’s been all year, which is unremarkable. It’s remarkable because it’s unremarkable.”
Trump’s poll performance has been a mixed story over the past year. Earlier in his second term, his approval rating dipped in several individual polls, with some trackers showing it in the 30s and low 40s. Those lows followed controversies over the cost of living, national policy disputes, and backlash over the Epstein Files.
Still, the newest aggregated data places Trump’s rating at its highest recorded point in recent months, even if it remains below the levels some presidents have enjoyed at similar intervals in office.
The rebound comes at a moment when Republican lawmakers are preparing for the 2026 midterm elections, and Democrats are looking to make gains in Congress. How public opinion evolves over the coming weeks is yet to be seen, especially after the attack on Venezuela, which led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
