U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House on June 5, 2025. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s job approval rating – 34% as of mid-July – has changed little over the last few months. But it is lower than his rating at a comparable point in his first term – 40% in August 2018 – and those of most other recent presidents at similar stages in their tenures.

Trump’s approval rating has declined over the course of this administration. It’s now comparable to, but modestly lower than, Joe Biden’s 37% rating in the summer of 2022.

In contrast, Trump’s ratings over the first few years of his first term in office were more stable.

Declining approval ratings from inauguration through the midterms are not unusual in recent presidencies: Former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan all experienced declines in their approval ratings in the first years of their presidencies.

But Obama, Clinton and Reagan all had substantially higher approval ratings than Trump’s current rating at similar points in the run-up to both their first and second midterm elections:

• Obama: 47% in August 2010 and 44% in July 2014
• Clinton: 45% in July 1994 and 63% in early August 1998
• Reagan: 42% in July 1982 and 63% in July 1986

Two other Trump predecessors, George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, had relatively high approval ratings in the summer and fall of their second years in office, following large increases early in their presidencies. George W. Bush’s approval rating rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, while George H.W. Bush’s went up in 1989 after the United States’ invasion of Panama and again in August 1990 with the U.S. response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

But the Bushes’ approval ratings declined later in their presidencies. George W. Bush’s rating was far more negative heading into his second midterm in 2006 (36% in July of that year) than four years earlier (65% in late July 2002).

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at presidential approval in historical perspective.

Why did we do this? 

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. We’ve studied Americans’ views of the president for decades and have produced similar reports on past presidents, including President Joe Biden in 2022.

Learn more about Pew Research Center and our politics research. 

How did we do this? 

For this analysis, we looked at presidential approval ratings from Pew Research Center surveys from 1993 to 2026 and Gallup surveys from 1953 to 1993.

For the analysis of partisan gaps in approval ratings dating back to Eisenhower’s administration, we computed yearly averages for presidential job approval based on annual totals. For most presidents, annual totals were computed from post-inauguration (Jan. 20 to Jan. 19, or the end of a presidency). For two presidents who took office at other times (Johnson, following the assassination of Kennedy, and Ford, following the resignation of Nixon), annual totals were computed from the beginnings of their presidencies.

Pew Research Center surveys from 2017 to 2026 were conducted on the nationally representative Americans Trends Panel. (Read more about the ATP’s methodology.) Center surveys from 1993 to 2017 were conducted by phone, as were Gallup surveys from 1953 to 1993.

How Trump’s approval rating has changed in his second term

The decrease in Trump’s approval ratings during his current administration has primarily come from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents: Today, 69% approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, down from 84% in February 2025.

There has been a more modest decline among Democrats and Democratic leaners, who largely disapproved of Trump from his early days in office: Just 6% now rate Trump’s job performance positively, down from 10% in February 2025.

Partisan divide in Trump’s approval ratings is among the widest on record

The partisan divide over Trump’s job performance reflects a longer-term trend. While presidential approval ratings have always been partisan, the gap between how Republicans and Democrats see presidents has increased over the last several decades. This is primarily the result of declining approval ratings among members of the party opposite the president.

Trump’s approval rating over the course of his second term so far has averaged 84% among Republicans and 6% among Democrats – a 78 percentage point gap. This is nearly identical to the 80-point gap over the course of Trump’s first term. (Note: These ratings are among Republicans and Democrats only. They exclude independents who lean toward each party to allow for comparisons to past presidencies.)

The partisan gaps in both of Trump’s terms are the widest in more than seven decades of tracking presidential approval ratings. The next-widest partisan gaps were for Biden (71 points) and Obama (67 points), with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to approve of each.

The partisan divide in Trump’s approval rating is now about twice as wide as the gap for President Dwight Eisenhower. Over the course of his presidency, Republicans gave Eisenhower an average 88% approval rating, a view shared by nearly half of Democrats (49%) – a 39-point difference.

The last few presidents have had lower approval ratings from members of the opposing party than even some of their fairly recent predecessors. For example, Clinton had an average approval rating of 80% among Democrats and 27% among Republicans – a 53-point gap. And Reagan had an average approval rating of 83% among Republicans and 31% among Democrats – a 52-point gap.