Key Points – President Trump’s approval ratings remain mixed and generally underwater as of late May 2025, with the RealClearPolling average showing a net negative of -2.1 (47.6% approve / 49.7% disapprove).
-While this is an improvement from late April’s tariff-induced lows, he has not held positive average approval since March 11th.
-Individual polls vary widely, with some Republican-leaning pollsters like Rasmussen and InsiderAdvantage showing positive ratings, while others like Reuters/Ipsos and Economist/YouGov report significant negative spreads.
-Notably, a recent RMG Research poll, typically more favorable to Trump, also showed him dipping into negative territory. Polling volatility appears linked to tariff announcements.
Is Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Still Underwater?
That depends on which pollster you ask.
A look at RealClearPolling’s latest aggregation of the polls paints a picture that’s somewhat all over the place.
The latest poll from Rasmussen Reports has Trump at +6. The most recent poll from Daily Kos/Civiqs has Trump at -5, while Economist/YouGov has him at -7. InsiderAdvantage has Trump at +11, which is a bit of an extreme outlier, while Morning Consult has him at -2, and Reuters/Ipsos all the way down at -10.
The RCP Average has Trump disapproved by 49.7 percent of voters, and approved by 47.6 percent, a spread of -2.1. It’s a much better number for Trump than the type of numbers he was facing in late April, when tariff chaos brought the average spread all the way up to -7.1, but the number is also looking worse for Trump than it did a week earlier, when the spread was down to -1.8.
Nevertheless, Trump has not been in positive territory, on average, since March 11. The president was in positive territory for the first seven weeks of his presidency, but hasn’t sniffed it again since.
Inside the Outliers
How can polls have that much of a difference? That’s because polling is an inexact science, and every pollster uses different methodologies.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was released May 20, found Trump way underwater.
“While low by historical standards, Trump’s popularity remains higher than it was for much of his first term as president and is also stronger than what his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden had during the second half of his 2021-2025 term,” Reuters said in its release of the poll.
“Trump’s high point remains his 47% rating in the hours after his return to the White House in January. His approval has shown little movement in recent weeks. Just 39% of respondents in the poll said Trump was doing a good job managing the U.S. economy, unchanged from a week earlier.”
InsiderAdvantage, on the other hand, had Trump in double-digit positive territory.
“Other pollsters who accurately polled election cycles where President Trump’s name appeared on the ballot have been showing his approval ratings moving into the fifty-percent plus range. Our last survey (conducted jointly with Trafalgar) was one of the first to show that Trump enjoyed a positive rating,” InsiderAdvantage Pollster Matt Towery said in the poll release.
“But it also showed an unusually high percent of undecided respondents. As I noted at that time, a large undecided number means that opinion is shifting but has not consolidated. Since then those undecideds have moved heavily towards approval of President Trump’s job performance.”
One Bad Poll
As pointed out by Newsweek this week, Trump has moved into negative territory in the poll released by RMG Research, a solidly Republican-leaning pollster. The most recent poll from RMG’s survey, which is conducted along with Napolitan News, Trump’s approval rating is now 48 percent, and his disapproval rating is 50 percent.
The same poll had Trump at 52 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval in early May. RMG’s poll had shown Trump in positive territory every time since one edition in mid-April, which followed the “Liberation Day” announcement that Trump was placing tariffs on most of the world’s countries. That period, which led to extreme stock market volatility, sent Trump’s polling numbers tumbling across the board.
What’s Next With the Polls?
One thing has been consistent with polls in recent months: When Trump announces new tariffs, the stock market goes down, and his polls tend to follow. Both measures usually go in the other direction when he announces he’s pulling back on tariffs.
The pause on tariffs caused Trump’s polls to improve, which his why they’ve been better for most of May than they were in April. But the tariff chaos is by no means resolved, and we’re likely looking at more volatility of that sort in the coming months.
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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