President Donald Trump’s approval rating is now 49% according to polling company Gallup, a personal best for Trump and the highest he’s received in the Gallup poll since he took office in 2017.
The president is also doing remarkably well among both Republicans and self-described independents, notching an astounding 94% approval rating among those affiliating with the GOP and 42% among independent voters, up five points since early January. And the needle is moving in the president’s direction on impeachment.
“The Jan. 16-29 poll was conducted in the midst of the Senate impeachment trial that will likely result in the president’s acquittal. The poll finds 52% of Americans in favor of acquitting Trump and 46% in favor of convicting and removing him from office,” Gallup reported Monday.
The Senate impeachment trial appears to have helped the president among undecided and independent voters, as has his response to the crisis in Iran, his recent landmark achievements on foreign trade (including a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada and progress on a trade deal with China), and widespread satisifaction with the direction of the American economy.
Gallup reports that American confidence in the economy is “higher than at any point in the past two decades,” and satisfaction with the direction of the country is higher than at any point in the last 15 years — and that’s across the board (and the aisle).
“Sixty-three percent of Americans now approve of the way Trump is handling the economy, up six points from the prior reading in November,” Gallup says. “It is the highest economic approval rating not only for Trump, but for any president since George W. Bush enjoyed stratospheric job approval ratings in the first few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
Trump is so beloved, at the moment, that he’s buoying Republicans.
“As Trump’s job approval rating has improved, so has the image of the Republican Party. Now, 51% of Americans view the Republican Party favorably, up from 43% in September. It is the first time GOP favorability has exceeded 50% since 2005,” Gallup says. “Additionally, the poll finds 48% of Americans identifying as Republicans or leaning toward that party, compared with 44% Democratic identification or leaning.”
Democrats are seeing an approval ratings dip, down four points since earlier in January, and fewer people are openly identifying as Democrats — just 44%.
Oddly enough, Gallup, which tends toward the middle of the road among polling outlets, is polling Trump better than Rassmussen, which traditionally favors Republicans and has, generally, been friendly to the current president. Rassumussen has Trump at 48%, still doing quite well.
Although this week is likely to bring good news for Trump overall — the Iowa Democratic caucus still does not have a winner and the president expects to be acquitted by the Senate on Wednesday — the Gallup poll portends a better election outlook than the Trump campaign likely had previously. Democrats may be hell-bent on defeating Trump’s bid to retake the White House in 2020, but as long as the economy remains strong, the president will retain goodwill in battleground states like Indiana, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Arizona, where the economy is a top concern.