A new poll has found that after his first month back in the White House, which was filled with a flurry of executive actions, President Donald Trump has an approval rating of 52%.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll noted that 33% of respondents strongly approved of Trump’s job performance as commander-in-chief, and another 19% somewhat approved.
The poll shows that despite some disagreeing with his decisions to lay off thousands and attack certain issues head-on, the president is performing well, especially among his party, as almost 9 in 10 Republicans said they approve of the job he’s done.
However, every coin has another side, and the same can be said for Trump’s shining numbers, as another 43% of respondents said they disapproved of the job Trump has done, with nearly 8 in 10 Democrats voicing their disapproval.
Among independents, Trump was almost exactly split.
The surveyors shared that Trump outperformed Biden’s January numbers when it came to how they handled the economy, immigration, foreign affairs, and administering the government. However, immigration was the only issue in which Trump crossed the 50-point approval mark.
“This is a good start for Trump, though many of his policy initiatives are more popular [than] this,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the poll, said of Trump’s approval rating. “So Americans are taking a wait-and-see approach with Trump having the potential to climb higher, especially as 58 percent believe he is doing a better job than [former President] Biden.”
The pollsters asked respondents about 11 of Trump’s policies and found that all but his attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America garnered a majority of voter support. His renaming efforts only received support from 39% of respondents.
Trump’s most favored policy was his deportation of immigrants “who are here illegally and have committed crimes,” as the poll worded it. That received support from 81% of respondents.
Still, Trump did have some rough responses, as 54% said they think his actions will divide the country instead of unite it.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 19-20 and included responses from 2,443 registered voters. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.