Shocking new poll exposes truth about Trump’s popularity as Speaker claims approval rating is at 90%
House Speaker Mike Johnson recently claimed that Donald Trump is extremely popular, saying his approval rating is at 90 percent. He made this comment during an appearance on CNBC, where he enthusiastically praised the former president. Johnson even referenced a CNN article, claiming it showed Trump’s ratings were “skyrocketing.”
But the actual numbers tell a different story. CNN’s own poll from July 17 reported that only 42 percent of Americans approve of Trump, and just 37 percent believe he’s focused on the right priorities. That’s a far cry from the 90 percent Johnson mentioned.
Other polls support CNN’s findings. A survey by Reuters and IPSOS showed that only 41 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance. Another poll by The Economist found that 55 percent of people do *not* support him. The most positive result came from Rasmussen Reports, where 50 percent of participants said they approve of Trump — still much lower than Johnson’s claim.
So where did the 90 percent figure come from? It appears Johnson was referring to the approval rating *within the Republican Party* — not among all Americans. According to CNN, 88 percent of Republicans said they support Trump. Johnson seems to have rounded that number up and presented it as if it applied to the entire country.
Despite what some of Trump’s supporters might say, his overall approval ratings are not the highest in U.S. history. For comparison, Bill Clinton had a peak approval of 66 percent, Ronald Reagan reached 63 percent, and Barack Obama hit 59 percent. On the lower end, Richard Nixon had one of the worst ratings at just 24 percent.
Trump’s approval numbers now look very similar to how the public felt about him during his first term. Back in 2017, after his first 100 days as president, only 42 percent of Americans approved of the job he was doing — the exact same figure CNN found in their latest poll.
So, while Trump still has strong support among Republicans, polls show that less than half of Americans overall currently approve of him.
