President-elect Donald Trump has scored an early win with a big approval ratings bump before even taking office – an improvement over his first transition team in 2016.
Why It Matters
Trump wasted no time in trying to throw his weight around following his victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election: He called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within days to start seeking a resolution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and he killed a spending bill he did not like as Congress stared down a government shutdown.
The transition team and prospective Cabinet members for a second Trump administration have made clear that the goal is to hit the ground running from day one, with an extensive plan to implement on a range of issues. Trump and his allies have claimed that a Republican sweep of the White House and both houses of Congress mean the president-elect has a mandate to pursue his agenda.
What to Know
A new Gallup poll released on December 27 showed Trump has a positive approval rating going into the new year, with 51 percent of Americans approving of how he's handling his transition into power versus 44 percent who disapprove.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump transition team by email on Sunday morning for comment.
Gallup reported that Trump's 2016 approval rating was level with his disapproval rating, making the newest poll an improvement on most fronts for him – the main exception being that the pollster noted "all incoming presidents since Bill Clinton had transition approval ratings of at least 61 percent" with 30-point gaps over their disapproval ratings.
Showing the numbers from that time, Trump saw his numbers drop from December 2016 to January 2017, hitting a 44 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval, meaning that even if the president-elect takes confidence from the latest numbers, they are hardly the final ones he'll see before taking office.
Biden, even before his first administration, had a 65 percent approval that went up to 68 percent just ahead of his inauguration in January of 2017. The lowest approval rating for a transition team, other than Trump's own first term, is George W. Bush with a 61 percent approval in January 2001.
The key difference is the split on voters: Trump's more positive rating this time around appears to have resulted from stronger support among Republicans, with 97 percent of Republicans approving of the transition compared to 86 precent in 2016.
The major mitigating factor in his numbers is opposition party rating: Gallup noted that prior to 2016, about half of opposition party supporters would approve of a president-elect's transition. However, both Trump and Biden suffered significantly in those numbers. Trump has below 20 percent approval among Democrats.
One of the major outstanding questions remains Trump's Cabinet nominees, with a near even split of 37 percent finding them "poor" and 36 percent finding them "outstanding." Around 16 percent of respondents find the nominees "average" – similar to his numbers in 2016.
The poll was based on telephone interviews with 1,003 adults aged 18 or older conducted between December 2 and 18 with a random sample across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
What People Are Saying
Two weeks ago when Trump saw his numbers rise in another poll, Trump-Vance Transition Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: "The American people reelected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver."
Tim Ryan, former Ohio congressman, in The New York Times: "The Dems got pinned as the status quo party on inflation, instability, insecurity, and every other issue facing working people. Trump was the change candidate in a year when 65 percent of people thought we were on the wrong track."
What Happens Next
Based on previous Gallup polling, Trump will get another approval rating update in January just ahead of his inauguration.
Trump's approval rating may take a bigger hit if more of his Cabinet nominees fall through, or if his tumultuous relationship with Elon Musk takes further turns. Musk faces his own popularity crisis due to his support for H-1B visas.
Trump had remained quiet but made comment on Saturday night when he told the New York Post that he "always liked the visas" and "always been in favor of the visas."
"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program," Trump told the outlet.
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