CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten explained on Monday how President Donald Trump’s approval rating has surged compared to his first term.
Trump’s approval rating has reached its highest point across both terms, with 53% of voters approving of his leadership so far since Jan. 20, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll published on Sunday. Enten stressed on “CNN Newsroom” that the poll is not an outlier, noting how other polls also have found the president to have a net positive approval rating, a striking difference compared to his first term.
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“It’s not just CBS … I like to take an average of the polls. And holy smokes. I mean, look at what the difference is between now versus eight years ago during the first Trump term, right? This is Trump’s net approval rating on February 10th,” Enten said. “You go back to 2017, Trump was already underwater at minus five points in the net approval rating, that’s approval minus disapproval. What a difference eight years makes. He’s on the positive side of the ledger at plus four points.”
“And again it’s not just the CBS News poll. We’re talking about the Gallup poll. We’re talking about the Ipsos poll. We are talking about the Pew poll. All of these respective pollsters have Trump in a better position now than they did eight years ago,” he continued. “The bottom line is, Americans are far more likely to say they like what they’re seeing now versus what they felt during Trump‘s first term.”
Enten highlighted how rare it was for Trump to hold a net positive rating in his first term.
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“I want you to take a look at this plus sign, right? Compare that to the negative sign, being on the plus side of the ledger, right. In positive net approval territory. A positive net approval rating for Donald Trump. Again, whoa whoa whoa whoa,” the data reporter said. “Entire first term. Just 11 days. Just 11 days Donald Trump had a net positive approval rating. Compare that to the second term just so far. Just so far.”
“Every single day of Trump’s second term so far, he has been on the positive side of the ledger, 21 days, all three weeks. That’s already 10 more days than he was in his entire first term,” he continued. “So again, this is just another sign that Americans are far more likely to like what they’re seeing in his second term than they were during his first term.”
CNN anchor Sara Sidner asked Enten why Trump’s numbers have improved.
“I think one of the things that’s so important for politicians is for folks to believe what they‘re saying and that they’re keeping their campaign promises. So I think this gives you a pretty gosh darn good idea of what may be going on: ‘Trump’s doing what he promised’ to do,” Enten said. “You go back to April of 2017. It was just 46% of all Americans who said that Trump was doing what he promised to do. Compare that now to February of 2025.”
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“You know, there was a good show that was on during the 1990’s called ‘A Different World.’ That is what’s going on right now. We’re living in a different world, 70% of Americans say Trump is doing what he promised to do. Again, compare that to April of 2017, when it was just 46%,” he continued. “When Americans are 24 points more likely to say that you‘re doing what you promised to do, it’s no wonder that your net approval rating is much more likely to be on the positive side of the ledger than on the negative side. And so far, what we’re seeing again is Americans 21 days so far versus just 11 days during his entire first term that Trump has a positive net approval rating. Quite a different world.”
Trump’s 2024 campaign included pledges to conduct the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants in American history, reduce the size of the federal government, eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the federal government and end birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants. Voters believe the president has followed through on issues like immigration, foreign affairs and eliminating government waste, according to the CBS News/YouGov poll.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.