More than half (51%) of Americans think that President Donald Trump is doing worse than his immediate predecessor, former President Joe Biden, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.
“Trump’s approval rating is at 45%, down 2 points from December with a small decline across each policy area,” it said.
This polling was conducted online among 2,000 registered voters on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29. Participants indicated that inflation and immigration are the nation’s top issues today. Inflation edged out immigration as the top at 33% compared to 29%.
“President Trump’s ratings are slowing declining with Americans seeing the economy sagging and inflation raging, even though economic statistics show the opposite,” said Mark Penn, Co-Director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll and Stagwell Chairman and CEO.
While Trump maintained on Truth Social this week that the U.S. has the “best economy, EVER,” polls have shown for months that Americans are not satisfied with the state of the economy. Per this latest poll, 56% of respondents said they believe the economy is shrinking and 66% said they think inflation is above 3% (January’s Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated inflation was up 2.7% in the 12-month period ending in December).
A majority of respondents (63%) blame the Trump administration for the state of the economy rather than Biden, who left office in early 2025. Additionally, a majority (53%) said the economy is worse now than when Biden was president and just 39% of the way the Trump administration is handling inflation. A 55% majority thinks he is making bad deals for the country
At the same time, 52% of voters said the economy was last “good” in early 2020, before the start of COVID-19 pandemic. Thar was the last year of Trump’s first term in office.
As for what voters want to see happen economically, the poll showed that 60% favor economic policies of reduced government spending, lower taxes, tougher trade deals, lower prescription drug costs, and a closed border. Republicans and independents are more likely to support all of these policies at 68% and 62%, while half of Democrats support them.
Trump’s policies are putting the U.S. on a “worse path,” according to a 49% plurality of the Harvard CAPS/Harris respondents. That’s compared to 36% who think they are putting us on the “right path” and 14% who think things will be about the same. Harvard CAPS/Harris noted that 15 out of 22 key Trump policies continue to see majority support from Americans.
“His most popular policies are lowering prescription drug prices (83% support), deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes (73%), eliminating fraud in government expenditures (70%), and capping credit card interest rates at 10% for one year (69%),” it said.
Trump’s approval rating is actually highest on his response to protests in Minneapolis, Minn., over Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns at 51%. However, the situation in Minneapolis – including the fatal shooting of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents along with subsequent backlash – has made it a more complicated issue.
Poll results show that 55% of voters disapprove of how immigration enforcement agencies like ICE and Border Patrol (CBP) are enforcing laws in U.S. cities and 57% said ICE and CBP have gone too far. One of Trump’s least popular policies is related to immigration – the hiring of 20,000 border patrol and ICE agents to conduct immigration raids – with 43% support and ICE had the least favorable view among institutions respondents were asked about.
“The majority of voters say ICE should not be allowed to conduct raids at schools or daycare (72%), on the street without a warrant (68%), and at workplaces (56%),” Harvard CAPS/Harris said. Furthermore, “56% of voters believe ICE has been taking people randomly off the street (Democrats: 76%; Republicans: 37%; Independents: 57%),” though 67% of voters also said local officials should cooperate with federal immigration authorities on deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
Penn said Republicans are facing a tough midterm election season in November if these trends continue. Indeed, the poll found that 54% of voters say they would vote for a Democrat if the congressional election was held now. Among likely voters, Democrats had a four-point lead.
Overall, 58% of voters said the Republican Party is run by the far-right, while 52% said the Democratic Party is run by moderates. A 44% plurality said that Trump himself is far-right, while an equal percentage (44%) wants a president who governs from the center right.