Majority Still Hold Favorable View, But Are Less Optimistic on Current Economic Conditions
Donald Trump begins the month of May with a slightly positive approval rating, an unsurprising decline from the all-time high measured shortly after Inauguration Day. The survey was conducted by BIG DATA POLL as part of the Public Polling Project for May 2025.
Nationally, 48.0% of registered voters approve of the way he is handling the job of president. Meanwhile, 47.4% disapprove of his handling of the presidency—up from a record low 37.4% in January—and 4.5% remain undecided.
“This dramatic of a decline is not entirely surprisingly given our last quarterly survey measured President Trump during the honeymoon phase of his second term,” BIG DATA POLL Director Rich Baris, said. “But all honeymoons come to an end, and it’s safe to say this one has, as well.”
“Party loyalty has a habit of regaining strength and concerns replace optimism.”
Interestingly, the president’s favorability rating is now outpacing his approval rating.
Overall, 51.3% have maintained a favorable view of President Trump compared to 46.3% who hold an unfavorable view. Several key groups who played a significant role in his victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris continue to hold positive views of him, to include 52.9% of Hispanic voters.
“While that does suggest a potential for his approval rating to improve, something is clearly driving this divide,” Mr. Baris added. “Given the decline in the percentage who cited they had a positive view on current conditions for our economic confidence index, it’s not unreasonable to start there.”
“However, if these economic concerns turn out to be unjustified, we should all expect the president’s numbers to rebound, perhaps sharply.”
Methodology
The Public Polling Project conducted by BIG DATA POLL interviewed 3,128 registered voters nationwide from May 3 to May 5, 2024. Interviews conducted online are sourced through Lucid (CINT) and live-agent phone interviews including P2P SMS and text-to-online are sourced from the Aristotle National Voter File Database. Participants who opted for text-to-online were given 24 hours to complete the interview. Interview details plotted on maps can be reviewed by hovering and clicking on the locator pins. Results were weighted for sex, age, race and ethnicity, education, and region. The overall sampling error is ±1.8% at a 95% confidence interval. It is important to note that sampling errors for subgroups are higher. All BIG DATA POLL publicly conducted surveys are crowdfunded via the Public Polling Project, supplemented if necessary by BIG DATA POLL and are NOT funded by or affiliated with any candidate, campaign, committee, or political entity. Full and interactive crosstabs can be viewed on MarketSight.
