Donald Trump is enjoying the smell of success with American voters – achieving a positive popularity rating in a key polling average for the first time.
Trump’s favorable rating in the RealClearPolitics average hit 49.4 percent Friday – with a 47.4 percent unfavorable rating about two points lower.
Throughout the data going back to 2015, Trump never saw a positive favorability rating in the polling average.
The milestone comes after Trump was named Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ and celebrated the event with wife Melania and daughters Ivanka and Tiffany Thursday, when he got to ring the bell at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.
Trump has spent his political career being ‘underwater’ in the rating. But his stunning climb back to political power – and the astonishing collapse and capitulation of some of his adversaries – has him on top.
Trump scored an impressive 312 to 226 win over Vice President Kamala Harris in the Electoral College after beating her in all seven battleground states.
That came after eking out a win in the popular vote – garnering just barely under 50 percent to 48.4 percent for Harris.
While perhaps short of the overwhelming ‘mandate’ that Trump claimed publicly, it still made him the first Republican to win the popular vote since 2004. (Trump prevailed in 2016 in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton).
Donald Trump has achieved a positive favorable rating in the RealClearPolitics average for the first time after scoring a string of wins
The period since his win has thrust Trump into the power position of announcing cabinet picks, speaking to world leaders, and firing off policy pronouncements from his Truth Social account.
He has experienced gains across the board – including financially, where his stake in Truth Social is about $4 billion despite some critics calling the company a ‘meme stock.’
There have been abundant signs that powerful figures have identified Trump’s ascendants. The period since the election has seen Special Counsel Jack Smith move to drop criminal cases against him.
Federal judges have gone along, with Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissing his January 6 case.
Trump even posted an image of first lady Jill Biden grinning while the two shared conversation inside the cathedral.
He had a fireside meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, and Biden promised an orderly transition.
He has been warmly embraced by House and Senate Republicans. Even many of his most controversial cabinet picks have been well received by members of his party, although his initial pick of Matt Gaetz for attorney general imploded over sex trafficking allegations that Gaetz denies.
Trump was named Time Magazine’s ‘person of the year’ and rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday
Signs of resistance to his choice for Defense secretary Pete Hegseth have been evaporating, with Iowa Republican Joni Ernst saying she will support him ‘through this process.’
Trump’s favorable rating with Gallup hit a low point immediately after January 6, 2021, when it was at just 34 percent.
It never topped 49 percent while he was in office.
As recently as June 25 in the RealClear average of polls, Trump’s unfavorable rating was 54.9 compared to a 42.1 favorable rating, putting him well ‘underwater.’