During a survey conducted in December 2020, 50 percent of respondents said they approve of how Donald Trump is handling the U.S. economy. 56 percent of respondents reported that they disapproved of how he is handling the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As of April 2025, about 44 percent of Americans approved of the way Donald Trump was handling his job as president. President Trump’s public approval fluctuated during his first term, falling to 34 percent toward the end of his first term in 2021. Approval of Administration Donald Trump’s presidency has caused a lot of controversy and debate both within and outside the United States. It took only eight days from his first day in office for Donald Trump to receive a 50 percent disapproval rating. The President is not the only politician with low approval ratings, as many Senators also face low approval ratings. However, President Trump’s second term approval ratings are not much lower than his approval rating after the same amount of time in office during his first term.

As of January 2025, about 41 percent of Americans approved of the way Joe Biden was handling his job as president. This is a slight increase from the previous month, when the President's approval rating sat at 40.3. Congressional Approval In March 2021, congressional approval reached a 12-year-high, with a 36 percent approval rating. However, congressional approval decreased in the following months. Approval ratings for Congress tend to be quite low, as many Americans have low trust in politicians and institutions in the country. The high approval rating in March 2021 came after Congress passed a COVID-19 relief bill to provide financial assistance to Americans during the pandemic. Handling of the pandemic Biden’s higher approval rating early in his presidency can, in-part, be attributed to how he tackled COVID-19. Taking a more hands-on approach in comparison to his predecessor, Biden supported mandated mask-wearing and expedited vaccines nationwide. About 40 percent of Americans either somewhat or strongly approved of the way the President was handling the virus, while about 45 percent either somewhat disapproved or strongly disapproved of his actions. As the two major parties disagreed on how to tackle the pandemic, existing divisions were further entrenched. A majority of the strong support came from Democrats, while most of the disapproval came from Republicans. Despite the low rating, the president's party performed relatively well at the 2022 midterm elections. While the economic situation in the United States was a large part of pre-election discourse, voters were more motivated by abortion rights and democracy.