Even Trump's favorite approval poll is flashing red


President Trump's approval rating is not in great shape — even in the one poll he's known to turn to for good news.
Trump's approval rating is at 43 percent in Rasmussen's latest poll, with his disapproval rating at 55 percent. This is the worst Rasmussen showing the president has had in a full year; his approval rating was last at 43 percent in January 2018. Trump tends to hover much closer to 50 percent or more on Rasmussen, a fact he is typically quick to point out on Twitter even when other polls put him below 40 percent.
Among the likely voters surveyed, 32 percent strongly approve of Trump compared to 38 percent who strongly approved of him back in October. This number has been much lower before, though, staying below 30 percent through much of fall 2017. The percentage of likely voters who strongly disapprove of his performance has risen to 46 percent, though, the highest number it has reached on Rasmussen since July 2018.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This poll is hardly an outlier, as FiveThirtyEight, which compiles findings from a wide variety of pollsters, shows that Trump's approval rating is trending downward and is 40.7 percent on average, with his disapproval rating at 54.3 percent. This is the worst shape he's been in on FiveThirtyEight's tracker in four months, and it comes amid a partial government shutdown that most Americans blame on the president.
Rasmussen conducted its survey by speaking to 1,500 likely voters over the phone from Jan. 11 through Jan 13. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points. Read more at Rasmussen.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?
Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?
Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strike
Speed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins
Speed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meeting
Speed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?
Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’