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President Donald Trump's popularity is reported to be at a record high, according to aggregate polling compiled by CNN analyst Harry Enten.
Trump's net-favorable rating is still currently in the negatives at a -4 percentage, but is making progress. The president previously had a -10 point rating during his first term in March 2017 and a -7 point rating after being elected for a second term in November.
“All we talk about is how unpopular Donald Trump is,” Enten said during a CNN broadcast earlier this week. “But in reality, he’s basically more popular than he was at any point in term number one and more popular than he was when he won the election back in November of 2024.”
“So when you compare Trump against himself, he’s actually closer to the apex than he is to the bottom of the trough,” he added. “And of course, that’s so important because Donald Trump, historically speaking, has had his numbers underestimated.
“I think it’s very important to compare [Trump] to himself, to understand that he’s actually more popular now than he was when he won, or certainly where he was at this point back in his first term.”
Enten referenced a recent Marist survey, which showed that 45% of Americans believed the country was on the right track under Trump, the second-highest percentage measured since 2009, as well as a survey by NBC News that showed 44% of Americans believed the same thing, which was the highest percentage since 2004.
“The bottom line is, the percentage of Americans who say we’re on the right track is through the roof,” Enten said.
“And if you were to compare it to when presidents have historically been re-elected, of course, Trump is not constitutionally eligible to run for re-election, but I think it sort of puts it in perspective, 42% of the country says the country is on the right track when the incumbent party is re-elected,” he added.
Last week, Trump's net approval rating was reported to be negative 2 percentage points in February, once again becoming the only president to have a net approval rating in the negatives since 1937, according to Enten. The president was reported to dipped below zero after having a plus 7 net approval rating in January.
“Well, there are two men on the screen, and they’re the same two men, and Trump in 2017, and Trump in 2025. He only matches himself,” Enten said at the time.
“I guess the good news is he’s doing a little bit better than he was eight years ago at this point.But when you’re only matching yourself and you’re the only dude who’s underwater at this point, not particularly good. Every single other president at this point in a term, either first or second, was above water,” he continued.
“So Donald Trump likes to make history, but this is the type of history Donald Trump does not like to make,” Enten added.
Enten claimed that Trump had negative approval ratings on every major issue excluding immigration.
“And that is what is dragging Donald Trump down. People came in with good expectations for Trump, better than for the first term. Yes, he’s doing slightly better than he was during the first term at this point,” he said.
“But compared to everybody else, he’s doing far worse. And the reason he’s doing far worse is Donald Trump is not meeting the voters' expectations on the issues that matter to them,” Enten added.