The media/Democrat campaign to sabotage President Donald Trump’s second term in office began well before he started, yet after he was inaugurated, his approval ratings remained steady for two and a half months in comparison to a similar time frame during his first term.
But when Trump’s talk of tariffs heated up and as various talking heads were having their say, with some advising a “wait and see” long-term benefit approach and others predicting disaster on the horizon, Trump’s approval numbers took a bit of a ding, as renewed concerns about the economy weighed on voters’ minds.
Even with that, according to some of those same polls, Congressional Democrats were not the beneficiaries of the slight decline, and in fact still came out well below Trump when voters were asked who they felt was best equipped to solve the nation’s problems. This showed that Americans continued to have faith in Trump when it came to charting the right course for the country’s future.
Here we are in May, and the Democrat heartbreak continues, with numbers in one poll showing around 50 percent for those who believe the country is on the “right track.” Further, American optimism about personal finances has soared to a four-year high in a poll that was taken before the Middle East trade/tariff agreements were announced.
But on the all-important number that everyone monitors – approval and favorability – Trump’s numbers are beginning to tick back up as voter concerns about the economy and a possible recession ease, as explained by CNN data cruncher Harry Enten in a Friday segment with anchor John Berman:
Enten: I think it’s time for a bit of a reality check, right? We were going into late April, Donald Trump’s approval rating – his net approval seemed to be falling. He seemed to be ‘adios amigos.’ People were writing his political obituary. He is rising from the dead.
Look at this – hello. Trump’s net approval rating among voters – this is the Reuters/Ipsos polling- look at this. In late April, he was eight points underwater. But look at where he was in the most recent poll among voters. He’s up seven points to a minus-one point net favorability rating. This is not the picture that I think a lot of people were thinking that we would be painting. In late April, I think a lot of people expected his approval rating to keep dropping. But, at least according to Reuters/Ipsos, it’s, in fact, rising.
[…]
Berman: Put this then in a larger perspective, Harry.
Enten: So this is just one poll, right? But let’s take a look across an aggregate of polls. What are we seeing here? And I want to compare both to where Donald Trump is now versus where he was in late April, as well as where he was at this point in term number one. What you see is at minus-six points, he is a little bit worse off than he is in the Ipsos/Reuters polling, but he is considerably better than he was in late April when he was nine points underwater.
And more than, look at this. He’s nearly 10 points better than he was back in May 16th of 2017 in his first term. So what we see is Donald Trump is not just doing better than he was doing in late April of 2025, he’s doing considerably better than he was doing at this point in term number one, about 10 points better than he was doing at this point in term number one.
On the question of “why,” Enten explained that at the end of the day, it was about the economy, and voters are feeling better about it today than they did in mid to late April:
Well, take a look at the chance of a recession. It’s actually falling, the chance of recession is falling. In late April, it was 60 percent, according to JPMorgan. Look at where it is now. It’s less than 50 percent. How about Goldman Sachs? You see the same thing. 45 percent now falling to 35 percent.
The bottom line is it is the economy, the economy, the economy. If the chance of a recession is falling as the trade wars have kind of collapsed a little bit, at least with China – Trump trying to make a deal. We do see that. I do think that the voters are responding to this, and therefore, we’re seeing Trump’s approval rating going up.
Watch:
The bad news for Democrats just keeps getting worse. You love to see it. You truly do.
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