Trump’s Popularity in 2025: Tracking the Year in Polls

Since Donald Trump came back to the White House in 2025, public opinion has changed a lot. His approval ratings have progressively gone down all year, while his disapproval ratings have constantly gone up. At the beginning of the year, Trump’s numbers were rather good. But during the course of the year, more and more Americans were unhappy with how he dealt with important topics like the economy, the federal government, tariffs, and international relations.

Trump started his second term in January with the greatest approval numbers he would get all year. A CNN survey taken just before his inauguration showed his best results since the 2016 election, showing a surge of support. In the first few days after he took office again, CNN, Reuters/Ipsos, Gallup, and Emerson College polls showed that his approval rating was in the high 40s to low 50s. But this early hope gradually evaporated. In late January, Gallup found that Trump’s first approval rating was lower than that of any other elected president since 1953. A lot of executive directives in the first month made voters even more unhappy.

February brought more problems. Some others liked Trump’s plan to cut down on the government bureaucracy through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Elon Musk runs. A Washington Post-Ipsos study found that 57% of adults thought he went too far, and a Pew Research Center poll found that Americans were evenly split on whether his efforts would make the government work better. That month, tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico made people worried about the financial markets. Almost 60% of adults thought prices would go up, and 44% thought the economy would suffer. This unhappiness showed in approval ratings, which stayed in the mid- to upper-40s, while disapproval rates went over 50% in several polls.

This pattern continued in March. Overall popularity stayed in the high 40s, while disapproval rose above 50%, especially when it came to Trump’s economic policies. Polls from Echelon Insights and NBC News showed that almost half of likely voters didn’t like how he handled the economy. CBS News/YouGov found that 80% of adults wanted more attention paid to inflation and economic issues, but only a small number thought the president was doing a good job of putting them first.

Trump announced the broad “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, and his approval ratings started to drop into the mid-40s. As he got closer to the 100-day mark, a Marist University poll indicated that most Americans gave him a failing grade. This pattern of falling approval continued throughout May, even though things got better for a short while when certain tariffs were lifted. His trip to the Middle East and the acceptance of a Boeing 747 airplane from Qatar made people doubt him, and polls showed that people had conflicting feelings about him.

June was one of the worst months for Trump’s popularity during his second administration. Quinnipiac University only got 38% of people to agree with them. More than 50% of people disagreed with them on important issues including immigration, the economy, and the GOP’s budget blueprint. Some Americans backed his decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles to deal with protesters, but many did not. CNN and Reuters/Ipsos polls showed that most people were opposed his plan to bomb Iranian nuclear installations.

The trend of poor approval ratings continued in July and August. The signing of the “big, beautiful bill” and meetings with world leaders, like a summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, only gave the economy short-term benefits. Polls showed that approval rates were in the upper 30s to mid-40s, but disapproval levels were always above 50%. People have mixed feelings on Trump’s federal intervention in Washington, D.C., to deal with crime. This shows that most voters are not sure about his policy choices.

By September, Trump was still not popular with voters on important issues like immigration, trade, foreign policy, the economy, and wars like the one between Russia and Ukraine and the one between Israel and Hamas. Even while Trump said he had good personal poll numbers at the United Nations General Assembly, Quinnipiac University and other polling data showed that most people disapproved of him and only a few approved of him.

People were even more unhappy in October when they blamed Trump and House Republicans for a historic government shutdown. Polls showed that almost 63% of people thought the president was partly to blame. Emerson College reported that approval of how he handled the Israel-Hamas peace pact went up to 47%. But people in general still didn’t believe it.

Trump’s approval stayed low in November and December. His numbers didn’t get any better after the federal government reopened. In fact, his approval rating hit an all-time low for his second term. POLITICO, NPR/PBS News, and Fox News polls showed that more and more people were unhappy, especially about the economy. Many of his 2024 voters blamed his administration for their daily money problems. Polls from NBC News, Reuters/Ipsos, AP-NORC, Quinnipiac University, and Emerson College showed that Trump’s approval ratings were in the low 40s or lower and that disapproval ratings were consistently above 50%. This shows that his first year in office was difficult.

In general, Trump’s popularity fell steadily from the early excitement after his inauguration in 2021 to broad public doubt in 2025. Voter feelings were mostly shaped by economic policies, tariffs, changes in the federal government, and decisions made by other countries. As the president moves into 2026, one of the most important things his administration needs to do is win back the trust of the public in both domestic and foreign affairs.

Sources:
Gallup
Reuters/Ipsos
CNN
Emerson College
Marist University
Pew Research Center
Quinnipiac University
NBC News
CBS News/YouGov
The Economist/YouGov
AP-NORC
Fox News
Harvard CAPS/Harris
Marquette Law School