Trump's Declining Approval: Insights From Pew Research Center Study 2025
- Karen Brittingham-Edmond
- Feb 18
- 3 min read
Feb 18, 2025
Trump’s Second Term: Early Ratings and Expectations
Front Page Photo Source: Larissa Avononmadegbe
According to a study released by the Pew Research Center on February 7, 2025, titled "Trump's Second Term: Early Ratings and Expectations," there's some eyebrow-raising news about the ethics, competence, and a serious lack of trust from a vast majority of Americans regarding Trump's administration in the opening act of his presidential sequel. For instance, aside from Elon Musk's bizarre cameos at the White House and the questionable decision to let young, inexperienced hackers play government with American taxpayers monies plus privacy, Americans are also scratching their heads over Trumps Cabinet picks such as Marco Rubio for example. Just this week Rubio looked as comfortable as a cat in a bathtub filled with hot water during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as he sat frozen in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin BFF, (best friends forever) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Observers couldn't help but notice Rubio's ears seemed to have taken on a life of their own. It's still up in the air whether Rubio's ears are channeling their inner Pinocchio from the fibs he's hearing and helping to spin for Trump's Public Relations Team, or if they're just growing out of sheer terror of eternal damnation.
Despite everything, Americans are dealing with the glaring reasons why racism needs to be kicked to the curb for good in the U.S.A. Thanks to the pointless firing of top-notch federal workers, and the glaring security oopsies that Trump and his pals have gifted American citizens. Folks are scratching their heads thinking, "Hey, maybe Biden and Harris could swoop in like superheroes, just to save us from this chaos and rebuild the America we remember, out of sheer sympathy for America's sanity?"
Below are the Pew Study's findings.
Trump’s second term: Early ratings and expectations
Americans are deeply divided over Donald Trump’s plans and the way he is handling his job in the early weeks of his return to the presidency.
"Overall, 51% of Americans say they disapprove. And most of these views are strongly held: 37% strongly approve of his performance, while 40% strongly disapprove."
How does Trump’s approval so far stack up against his first term?
When Trump left office in early 2021 (Trump’s approval fell to 29% in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and his rejection of its results).
Trump’s job ratings remain as polarized by party as ever in 2025:
Where with just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaders approve of Trump’s job performance.
The current partisan gap in Trump’s approval ratings is on par with much of his first term, though wider than in the last weeks of his term (when 60% of Republicans approved of his job performance.)
Trump’s job approval among demographic groups
"About half of Americans (51%) say they disapprove of Trump’s job performance so far, including four-in-ten who say they strongly disapprove."
Trump’s ratings are more positive than negative among:
Men (52% approve)
White adults (55%)
Adults 50 years and older (51%)
High school diploma or less (53%) persons
Trump’s ratings are more negative than positive among citizens who are:
Women (42% approve)
Black adults (19%)
Hispanic adults (36%)
Under 50 years old (43%)
College degree or more (40%)
Trump’s personal traits, skills, fitness for office
The public offers mixed assessments of Trump’s personal traits per the February 2025 Pew Report – including his leadership skills, mental fitness and physical fitness.
43% of Americans are not too or not at all confident in President Trump
Similarly, 39% of Americans have high confidence in Trump’s mental fitness for the presidency, while 44% have little or no confidence in Trump's mental fitness as president.
And while 35% are extremely or very confident Trump is physically fit for the job, 41% are not too or not at all confident of this (24% express some confidence).
On the three other dimensions asked about on the survey (choosing good advisers, acting ethically in office and respect for U.S. democratic values,) substantially more Americans express little or no confidence in Trump than say they are extremely or very confident in him.
29% of Americans are at least very confident he acts ethically in office. A majority (54%) are not too or not at all confident he does.
31% are extremely or very confident he respects the country’s democratic values. A 53% majority lacks confidence in Trump on this trait.
31% are confident he picks good advisers, while 51% have little or no confidence that he does.
To learn more concerning
Trump's February 2025 Pew Research Report
please click the link below.
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