Americans do not approve Donald Trump’s management. The Republican is the most polarizing character in the US policy of the last decades. He has returned to power eager for revenge, and has put the country in one who is and threatens to raise prices. When the first three months meet from its return to the White House, its approval index is 45%, it is the lowest figure for any president since the end of World War II, with a single exception: that of Trump himself in the first quarter of his first mandate (2017-2021), when his approval was 41%.
The average valuation of the first quarter of all the presidents elected between 1952 and 2020 is 60%, according to Gallup. John F. Kennedy (1961) and Dwight Eisenhower (1952) obtained the highest average valuations of the first quarter, with 74% and 71%, respectively, while Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan obtained between 60% and 69%. George W. Bush, George Hw Bush, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton registered similar means approval rates, between 55% and 58%, in their first quarters. Trump is the only president who has obtained approval rates of media below 50% during the first quarter of his mandate and has done so twice: as 45º President and now as 47th.
Of course, the party division around the Trump figure is absolute. While 90% of Republicans approves the president’s work, only 4% of the Democrats do it. As for independent voters, not assigned to either of the two great parties, the current 37% approval has remained stable since February, but it is nine percentage points lower than the valuation they gave to Trump at the time of their investiture.
The last survey was conducted during an economic turbulence period, this announcement caused a strong drop in the stock market, the treasure bonds and the dollar. Despite the and the flexibility of other conditions since then, market instability has persisted. Some economists have warned of the risk of a recession, citing the collapse of consumer confidence, the rise of inflation expectations, market volatility and growth deceleration signs.
In that context, 44% of American adults claim to have confidence that Trump will recommend or do the right thing for the economy, including 30% with a lot of confidence and 14% with enough. Moreover, 55%, Americans who indicate that they have only some confidence in the president (11%) or almost none (44%) in relation to the economy.
Again, in this issue, partisan patterns are repeated. Trump has a high level of support within his party, since 89% of Republicans claim to have a lot (67%) or enough (22%) confidence in economic matters, compared to 37% of independents and 8% of the Democrats.
Gallup has monitored the confidence of citizens in the economic management of the presidents every year since George W. Bush assumed the position in 2001. Bush, Obama and Biden began their mandates with a majority level of confidence, while Trump obtained 48% in the first year of his first presidential mandate. Its current 44% index is similar to 46% on average of their first mandate.
The highest economic confidence scores were recorded for George W. Bush in 2002 and Obama in 2009 (73% and 71%, respectively). The lowest economic management scores were recorded for Bush in 2008 (34%), in full recession, and for Biden in 2023 (35%), when high inflation continued to affect Americans. In the case of Biden, from 57% of its first year in office.
Despite its low popularity, Trump has a higher approval index than the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress and also, in economic matters, with more support than the president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, of Chaos caused with their Erratic Economic and Commercial Policy. 37% of Americans have a lot or quite confidence in Powell, compared to 50% that has little or no confidence in it. Interestingly, the president of the Federal Reserve generates more confidence among Republicans (43%) than among Democrats (37%) or independents (32%).
