Chart: Trump's stable approval rating, 2017-21
Former President Donald Trump’s time in office is over. He’s been impeached twice and banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. But if his presidency was a roller coaster, his approval ratings were not.
Trump left office with steadier approval ratings than his most recent predecessors, an analysis of NBC News/Wall Street Journal polling data from January 1993 to this January shows. Trump’s approval rating remained within the same 9-point range for his entire presidency: 47 percent at its highest in October 2018, and 38 percent at its lowest in October 2017.
Other presidents experienced far more volatile movements in their approval ratings. Barack Obama’s ratings swung 21 points during his time in office, while George W. Bush’s swung nearly three times as much, 62 points.
While Trump’s ratings were more stable, they were also lower on average than his three predecessors. Trump’s median approval rating during his term was 44 percent. Obama’s was median rating after his first term was 48 percent, Bush’s was 56 percent and Clinton’s 50 percent.
See more details about each president’s historical approval ratings on the chart below.
