US: Trump Enters Second Term With Stronger Approval Than First Term

A new survey from Gallup has found that more Americans approve (51%) than disapprove (44%) of the way President-elect Donald Trump is handling his presidential transition, a slight improvement from his first term, on the back of stronger Republican support.

• The survey notes that the improvement, “doesn’t appear to be because Americans think he has made better Cabinet choices, however, as the public rates his selections similarly to those for his first term.” Gallup adds that if Trump’s 2024 transition rating holds at its current level, he could see his first-ever majority job approval rating as president.
• According to a recent Quinnipiac University national poll optimism for Trump’s second term, “extends well beyond his MAGA Republican base to include a majority of independents, 48% of Hispanic voters and even 41% of black voters.”
• William Galston writes in the Wall Street Journal that Trump must resist policy overreach to avoid the kind of voter blowback President Biden suffered: “Mr. Trump’s presidency can succeed if he recognizes why voters sent him back to the Oval Office—to lower prices, bring order to the southern border, and pull back from what Americans see as the Democrats’ excesses on cultural issues. But he’ll get in trouble if he overreads his mandate, as many presidents before him have done.”

Figure 1: Approval of Presidential Transition, by Party and Year