(DCNF)—In spite of recent reports claiming that Republicans regret voting for President Donald Trump, several recent surveys reveal that his approval ratings have been higher during his second term than in his first term.
In recent weeks, reports have surfaced citing Trump voters who reportedly feel “guilty” and “regretful” over their decision to support the president in the 2024 election after witnessing his flurry of executive actions, ranging from immigration to drastically cutting bureaucracy. Despite this, Trump’s overall approval rating remains above that of his first presidency, according to four recent polls.
A CBS News poll published on Feb. 9 revealed that Trump had his highest ever approval rating, with 53% of voters expressing approval. A majority of Americans, 51%, said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 45% expressed disapproval, according to a SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Morning Consult poll published Tuesday found that there were more Americans who expressed approval for Trump’s performance as president than those that said they disapprove. Of those surveyed, 50% said they approved of his performance while 47% said they disapproved. Moreover, a Napolitan News Service poll released on Feb. 14 found that Trump’s approval rating had climbed to 55% between Feb. 10 and Feb. 14, up from 51% the week prior.
Various Democrats and legacy media outlets have been critical of the surge in executive actions taken by Trump since he returned to the White House on Jan. 20, with one reporter at The New York Times calling the president’s recent undertakings an “executive power grab,” regarding his decision to fire several executive agency employees. Trump has also garnered backlash from some on left over his executive order to eliminate “wasteful” and “radical” diversity programs across the federal government, as well as his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the southern border. Voters repeatedly ranked border security as one of the most important issues leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Although Trump currently holds a plus-84 approval rating among Republicans, according to CNN’s Harry Enten, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow stated in a segment on Tuesday that some Republican voters allegedly feel as though Trump’s actions are “indefensible.” Citing a report from The Wall Street Journal that quoted self-identified Trump voters who reportedly “regret” their candidate choice, Maddow said that there are “Republicans who can’t actually bear what Trump is doing.”
Other commentators, like CNN’s Abby Phillips, have instead said that Trump’s actions, particularly on immigration, reflect his campaign “promises made, promises kept,” while political analyst Mark Halperin said that Trump has gained popularity directly because of his fast-paced agenda.
The SurveyUSA poll surveyed 2,000 adults, and the data was collected from Feb. 13 to Feb. 16, while the Morning Consult poll was conducted between Feb. 14 and 16 among 2,217 registered voters. The Napolitan News Service poll surveyed 3,000 registered voters between Feb. 10 and 14, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
