Four Weeks In: Trump and DOGE Approval Ratings Remain High

The sun is setting on the fourth week of the Trump administration, and if nothing else, the first four weeks have been full of action. Despite some early criticism, President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency maintain high approval ratings, and Americans are increasingly optimistic about the country's future.

In the latest Trafalgar poll, conducted Feb. 7-9 with 1,321 American voters, Trump showed a 54% approval rating and 45% disapproval. Other polls reported slightly lower approval ratings, resulting in a RealClearPolitics Average of 48.7% approval and 46.1% disapproval for President Trump’s Job Approval.

This is still much higher than Trump’s job approval in his first administration. “Trump is enjoying much stronger support from Republicans, Independents, and even Democrats than at this point in his first term,” Robert Cahaly and Matt Towery of Trafalgar Group said in the analysis of their poll. In the RCP Average during Trump’s first term, he never had a positive approval rating, and his net approval even sank to -21% in late 2017.

DOGE has been one of the main programs drawing support and criticism in the early weeks of Trump’s term, with critics concerned about how much access Elon Musk and his team have to Americans’ personal data, as well as spending cuts that will affect Americans and people around the world.

Despite the criticism, according to the Trafalgar poll, 49% approve of Musk and his efforts with DOGE, while 44% disapprove. Other polls show DOGE’s approval at similar levels, with a recent Economist/YouGov poll finding that 42% view the department favorably and 38% unfavorably.

Trafalgar criticized the way other pollsters asked questions related to Musk and DOGE: “Their questions have generally centered upon opinion of Musk playing a large role in Trump’s administration, versus a straight up approve/disapprove question as to Musk and his efforts in leading DOGE.” They continued, saying that when the questions are asked correctly, Republican approval of Musk is around +8%.

Other polls, even when worded in line with Trafalgar’s framing, showed much more negative approval of Musk’s handling of his job. In the Economist poll, Musk had only 38% job approval as head of DOGE, while 47% disapproved, even though the general view of DOGE was positive.

The first few weeks of the Trump administration seem to have affected the general mood about the country’s direction as well. Since his inauguration, the percentage of people saying the country is on the wrong track fell from 60% to 53%, while the percentage saying the country is on the right track jumped from 28% to 39% in the RCP Average.

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, the number of people saying the country is going in the right direction exceeded the percentage saying it is on the wrong track. This is the first time in the history of Rasmussen polling, which started in 2003, that more respondents said the country was on the right track than the wrong track. Since RealClearPolitics began tracking the "Direction of the Country," there has never been a time when the average showed a larger percentage of people saying the country was on the right track than the wrong track.