President Trump’s approval ratings higher than Obama’s and Bush’s were at the same time in their second terms

Right now, in the RealClearPolitics average, President Donald Trump stands at 45.1% approval. While that doesn’t seem like a high number, it is quite healthy, especially when compared to the most recent two term Presidents.

At the same point in their second terms, that would be mid October 2005 for George W Bush, and mid October 2013 for Barack Obama, Bush’s approval rating sat at 39.5% and Obama’s approval rating was 44.6%.

For all of the hype from the left wing about President Trump apparently losing a huge amount of support, the actual facts show quite a different picture. Of course, most of the polls that people claiming Trump’s support is imploding site, are left leaning polls that have Trump near 40% approval, but routinely underestimated Trump in all 3 of his elections.

Another line some use is that Trump never went under 50% approval as quickly into his term as other Presidents. But that just represents the fact that the Democratic voters, who were never going to vote for Trump, never gave Trump a chance to make them approve of him.

In the past, Republican voters at the beginning of Democratic Presidents’ terms, and Democratic voters at the beginning of Republican Presidents’ terms, gave a certain amount of support. That did not happen for Trump.

In fact, President Trump’s support among his base, the Republican Party, is higher than any Republican President’s support among Republicans since at least Ronald Reagan.

This is to say nothing about the fact that polls almost always underestimate Trump’s actual approval, as seen by Trump’s over performance relative to expectations and polls in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

When you combine those two factors, it really doesn’t look like Trump has any less support than past two term Presidents. In fact, he might have just as much overall support, but more rock solid support.

Mr Trump is undoubtedly a polarizing figure, but he is not going away and will not see support evaporate from him any time soon.