Polls Show Trump Approval Slipping at 100 Days, But Critics Push Back

Tuesday, April 29, will mark the end of President Trump’s first 100 days of his second administration. Over the weekend, the coming 100-day mark was commemorated with a few Sunday polls, all indicating Americans might not approve of Trump’s latest actions, though some pollsters disagree with this analysis.

The dreary polls for Trump started on Thursday, with a Fox News poll recording a -11 point approval rating. Then on Friday came another from The New York Times/Siena College, recording a -12 point net approval rating, and on Sunday, three polls were released from CBS, CNN, and ABC/Washington Post, recording -10, -14, and -13 point approval ratings, respectively.

The only poll that gave some respite from the disapproval was one from RMG Research*, which had Trump at +1 net approval. Even the poll from Rasmussen Reports, which had shown positive Trump approval on April 23, recorded a -5 net approval rating in its latest April 28 poll.

With all these polls factored in, the RealClearPolitics approval rating average has Trump at -7.1 net approval, with 45.3% approving and 52.4% disapproving. Since Trump was inaugurated, there has been a steady downward trend in approval, starting at +6.2 points. It flipped from positive to negative net approval on March 12, and disapproval has grown since.

The latest slate of polls has drawn criticism from some, such as InsiderAdvantage Polling, which, although not having published any polling about Trump approval ratings yet this term, said in an X.com post, “Why would anyone expect pollsters who have not been able to poll Trump correctly in three presidential cycles, to be on target when they poll his approval ratings? We warned these were coming. All about a 100 day storyline.” 

Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen Reports had a similar criticism, writing, “Here's the thing - others' Trump approval numbers can't be trusted because they don't know how to poll Trump supporters.”

Trump is still ahead of where he was for much of his first term in terms of approval. Even compared to April 29, 2017, he has a slightly higher approval now, as he had a net -8.8 approval then. On April 29, 2021, Biden had a higher approval, at net +11, though it fell off later during the summer and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Despite recent concerns about deportations without “due process,” immigration still remains Trump’s top issue, with only -1.4 net approval in the RCP Average. In the CBS poll, 56% approved of his plan to deport immigrants illegally in the U.S., while only 44% disapproved. At the end of his term, this was close to Biden’s worst issue, with -31.3 net approval, alongside his approval on the Israel-Hamas war, with -32.7 net approval.

Trade and the economy are where the real decline in Trump’s approval has come from. At the start of Trump’s second term, the first Economist/YouGov poll had his approval at +12 on the economy, while in the latest poll, it is at -11. In the CBS poll, 48% said that Trump’s policies are making them worse off financially, while only 19% said they are better off.