President Donald Trump and his administration hit a major milestone in the most recent NBC News poll, as 44% of Americans now believe that the United States is “headed in the right direction.”
NBC News pollster Steve Kornacki broke down the numbers with “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker during Sunday morning’s broadcast, and he noted that the last president to see a number that high was former President George W. Bush, just months ahead of his re-election in 2004.
WATCH:
NBC: 44% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction under President Trump, up from just 27% in November.
"If that doesn't seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40%, you gotta go back to 2012. The last time it actually hit 44% or higher — January 2004." pic.twitter.com/56HNG3Disi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 16, 2025
“First of all, the mood of the country — this really jumped out,” Kornacki began. “We asked folks is it on the right direction or the wrong direction, that 44% who say right direction, that’s up since November [27%]. And if that doesn’t seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40%, you gotta go back to 2012. The last time it actually hit 44 or higher — January of 2004.”
“So a lot of this is Republicans, but independents, that number is also up since the election on the direction of the country,” Kornacki added, noting that it was just Republican voters who were voicing approval of the Trump administration’s actions.
The poll also spelled very bad news for the Democratic Party, marking a new all-time low in its approval rating. Just 27% had a positive view of the party as a whole, and only seven percent said that view was “very positive.” Voters who had “negative views” of the Democratic Party sat at 55%, and 38% said that they had “very negative” views of Democrats. Those numbers mark NBC News’ lowest approval ratings for Democrats since 1990.
Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt and GOP pollster Bill McInturff, of Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies respectively, conducted the survey of 1000 registered voters between March 7 and March 11. Horwitt said of the results, “With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted.”
The poll was taken prior to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) decision to vote in favor of the Republican-led continuing resolution to fund the government through September — a move that also angered a number within his own party.
