Donald Trump Starts Second Term with Record-Breaking Approval Ratings
By Jake Beardslee ·
January 23, 2025
President Donald Trump has entered his second term with record-breaking approval ratings, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. The latest Presidential Tracking Poll shows Trump with a net approval rating of +14, marking his highest approval figures to date. The survey, conducted over two days with approximately 829 likely voters, revealed that 54% approve of his job performance, while 40% disapprove. The Trump White House / Wikimedia
Rasmussen employs rolling averages to refine polling accuracy, with a three-day average expected on January 23 and a five-day average on January 27. The full sample of 1,500 likely voters carries a margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The Trump White House / Wikimedia
The polling reveals significant gains among key demographics, with 49% of Black voters, 72% of Hispanic voters, 57% of women, and 48% of independents approving of Trump's performance. Notably, Trump’s aggregated first-term approval rating peaked at 45.8%, but his disapproval rating at that time remained higher at 50%, according to FiveThirtyEight. The Trump White House / Wikimedia
Trump's high approval comes after winning the popular vote for the first time and beginning his second term with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate. This strong mandate could enable Trump to advance his agenda, which includes mass deportations, eliminating DEI policies, and raising tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada. The Trump White House / Wikimedia
On Tuesday, attorneys general from 22 states, along with Washington, D.C., and the city of San Francisco, filed lawsuits in two federal district courts challenging the executive order that seeks to deny birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to immigrants without legal status.
“President Trump now seeks to abrogate this well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle by executive fiat,” the states argued in one complaint. They emphasized that “the principle of birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years,” citing the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which “unambiguously and expressly confers citizenship on ‘[a]ll persons born’ in and ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.” Sora Shimazaki / Pexels
Despite this momentum, Trump faces challenges, including legal battles over some executive orders and resistance from a narrowly Republican-controlled House. Among the contested orders are policies targeting birthright citizenship and reclassifying federal jobs under "Schedule F," which would strip civil service protections.
Looking forward, Trump is engaging with centrist House Republicans to push his agenda through Congress. However, a lack of consensus within his party may pose obstacles. U.S. House of Representatives / Wikimedia
