Key facts
- Gallup has ended its presidential approval polling after nearly 90 years.
- Donald Trump's recent approval ratings are around 30-37%.
- Richard Nixon had the lowest final approval rating at 24% before resigning due to Watergate.
- Harry S. Truman had the second-lowest final approval rating at 32%.
Gallup, the analytics and polling company that pioneered presidential approval ratings, has confirmed it is ending the practice after nearly 90 years. The decision, effective immediately, is driven by a "shift in corporate strategy" to focus more on issues and policy polling, according to The New York Times. Since the 1930s, Gallup's polls have asked Americans about their approval of the current president's job performance.
Recent polling data indicates that President Donald Trump has faced some of the lowest approval ratings among modern presidents. In a Gallup poll conducted in early December 2025, 36% of respondents approved of Trump's performance, a decrease from 47% in early 2025. His disapproval rating stood at 59% in the same poll. Other polling firms continue to release similar data; the American Research Group found 30% approval for Trump in mid-June, with 66% disapproval, and 70% disapproving of his handling of the economy. The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in mid-June showed Trump's approval at 37%, with 62% disapproval.
During his first term, Trump was the first president since Gallup began tracking in the 1930s to never achieve a job approval rating above 50%. The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has compiled final Gallup ratings for presidential terms over the past 70 years. Richard Nixon had the lowest approval ratings by the end of his presidency, with 24% approval and 66% disapproval days before his resignation amid the Watergate scandal. Harry S. Truman received the second-lowest approval ratings at the end of his second term in 1953, with 32% approval and 56% disapproval, partly due to the unpopular Korean War.