Charging out of the starting-gate, President Donald J. Trump and his Republican supporters are making a start to solve the critical formerly intractable problems that the Biden Harris Democrats left for Americans.
In doing so, President Trump is charting a stronger and more popular level of public opinion support than he ever had in his first term.
Our latest national poll of 1,000 likely voters (+/-3.1% at the 95% confidence interval), was modeled after the November election turnout and completed between Jan. 22 and Jan. 27.
Compared to our most recent December 2024 national poll, voter optimism is moving towards the right direction by a net 16 points.
Back in December, 66% of all voters said the country was on the wrong track and only 24% said right direction. Now it’s 32% right direction and wrong track dropped to 58%.
Republicans are leading the way saying that the country is on the right track 55% to 40%.
Similarly, the percentage of voters who think the economy is in recession dropped to 39%.
That’s the lowest level since before COVID-19 in February 2020.
During most of Joe Biden’s term most voters thought we were in a recession.
Last month the majority said the economy was getting worse, 55% to only 37% better. Today 49% said the economy is getting worse and 39% said better --- net 8-point improvement.
Still 84% said they had been negatively impacted by inflation; 50% were having trouble affording basic necessities. This is why economic issues still lead voter concerns 42%, social issues 27% and security 17%.
Voter perceptions of federal government spending highlight their cynicism.
In questions we asked on behalf of Steve Moore’s Committee to Unleash Prosperity, only 25% said the federal government often does a better job than they get credit for, but 64% said the federal government is too wasteful and inefficient.
Then when asked how much of the federal budget do they think is wasteful spending, the mean result among all voters was a whopping 38% wasted.
Despite these unsolved Biden challenges and just a week into the job, the majority approves the job that President Trump is doing 52% to 43% disapprove.
Asking the voters if they approve of both Trump’s personality and policies 42% approve of both, and another 14% approve of Trump’s policies, even though they don’t like his style, for a grand total of 56% who approve of the president’s policies.
Only 38% disapprove of Trump’s style and policies.
As our nation's 47th commander in chief's policies succeed his job approval and favorable ratings should increase further.
Beyond job performance Trump is personally better liked than both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. President Trump’s favorable to unfavorable rating is 50%-47%; Harris 46%-50% and Biden only 40% favorable to 56% unfavorable.
The majority clearly recognizes that Joe Biden’s corruption and incompetence left Trump quite a mess to clean up.
President Trump reminded the voters the gravity of problems he inherited with visits to North Carolina and California, roundups of criminal illegal aliens, or even a trip to the supermarket, will give people hope that he cares about them and is working to help them.
President Trump’s success is contagious lifting the generic vote for Congress to 48% Republican to 40% Democratic.
In contrast, Washington, D.C. Democratic leaders remain unpopular.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is a net negative favorable 23%, unfavorable 28%. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is even more unpopular favorable only 24% and unfavorable 39%.
It’s only been one week, but the political momentum continues for President Trump and his supporters, while the political fault lines say that President Trump’s radical Democratic opponents do so at their own peril.
Please access the link below, for poll results:
National Survey and Political Environment Analysis Likely General Election Voters Presented by: John McLaughlin On the web www.mclaughlinonline.com
John McLaughlin has worked professionally as a strategic consultant and pollster for over 40 years. Jim McLaughlin is a nationally recognized public opinion expert, strategic consultant and political strategist who has helped to elect a U.S. president, prime ministers, a Senate majority leader, and a speaker of the House. Read John and Jim McLaughlin's Reports — More Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.