Trump Approval Rating Net +18%–Highest Ever for Him

There’s no doubt that President Trump is riding high–having the honeymoon that was denied in 2017. 

And while it’s early–believe it or not, this is just the fourth full day he has had in office–the reviews so far are good. Despite the left spewing nonsense about Nazi salutes, Pete Hegseth’s character, and the grotesque unfairness of Trump denying lying spies their God-given right to top secret information, Americans seem pretty cool with what Trump is doing and are willing to give Bad Orange Man the leeway to make progress on his agenda. 

94% of R’s approve along with 39% of Indies and 20% of D’s.
Among Bible Believing and Evangelical Christians, his positive ratings are at 73%. It’s 59% among Catholics, 51% among other Protestants and 38% among Jewish voters.

— Scott Rasmussen (@ScottWRasmussen) January 24, 2025

And Trump isn’t being cautious about using his political capital, either. He is going full MAGA and taking some bold risks, like freeing the January 6th prisoners and putting some fire into ICE. Where most Republicans would squirm, Trump strides. 

Scott Rassmussen of Napolitan News Service sent me their latest poll, taken over the past three nights, and the numbers are looking good for Trump. Not quite Obama-honeymoon level, but the best Trump has ever seen.

Initial reaction to President Trump’s flurry of activity has been largely positive. A Napolitan News survey found that 57% of voters approve of his performance while 39% disapprove.

Ninety-five percent (95%) of Republicans voice their approval along with 39% of Independents and 20% of Democrats.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Evangelical or Bible Believing voters approve. So do 59% of Catholic voters and 51% of other Protestants. Among Jewish voters, 38% approve and 59% disapprove. The president’s lowest ratings come from atheists, only 29% of whom approve. 

The current 57% approval rating matches the first approval rating for President Biden measured by Gallup.  This is up twelve points from Trump’s first approval rating during his first term. President Obama’s initial approval rating was 68%, while George W Bush’s was identical to Trump’s and Biden’s at 57%.

These results are consistent with the broadly positive response to major executive orders.

As “divisive” as Trump is said to be–and no doubt he inspires passion on both sides of the aisle–he is actually less divisive than Biden turned out to be. His net “strong positive” to “strong negative” is +6 in the poll, and the RCP average for Trump is net +10 overall. 

Biden left office reviled. 

Democrats are flailing, still trying to find the right angle from which to attack the president. They seem to have settled on going after his appointments more than him so far, with Musk and Hegseth having the biggest targets on their backs. Gabbard will be next, surely.

Expect Musk to remain in the crosshairs as long as he remains a key Trump ally. Damaging his reputation with the public has not, so far, been particularly effective, but I think the real goal is to pry Musk away from Trump. Musk’s support was key to creating a massive shift in opinion in the tech world. Combine Musk’s star power with his hypercompetence in areas where he focuses his attention and you have a potent force opposing the leftist agenda. 

Trump and Musk both have enormous egos, have no fvcks to give about what anybody thinks, and the left hopes a personality clash will create distance. Musk and Trump have already clashed on the AI initiative, although Trump seems blasé about the dispute. 

It’s clear that Trump is counting on shock, awe, and momentum to help him make major changes quickly, spending political capital with abandon. If it works, as it did for Javier Milei, it will be a triumph and replenish his capital. If it doesn’t, those numbers will start sinking.