Every US President's Approval Rating Over Time
The Most Watched Number in Politics
Since the late 1930s, Gallup has asked Americans the same simple question: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way the president is handling his job?" The answers, compiled over nearly nine decades, tell the story of the American presidency in a way that no historian or pundit ever could - through the unfiltered voice of the people themselves.
In February 2026, Gallup announced it would stop tracking presidential approval ratings after more than 80 years. That makes this data set - from Truman through the end of Biden's presidency in January 2025, plus the early months of Trump's second term - a closed chapter. What follows is the complete visual history of how Americans rated every president in the modern polling era.
Two things jump out immediately when you look at the complete data set. First, every single president's approval rating declines over time. No exceptions. Even the most popular presidents leave office less popular than when they arrived. Second, the partisan gap in approval has exploded - from around 30-40 points under Eisenhower and Kennedy to 80+ points under Trump and Biden. We're not rating the same president anymore. We're rating our team.
The Big Picture
Average Approval Rating by President (Gallup)
Highest vs. Lowest Rating by President
Peak-to-Trough Drop (Percentage Points)
Every President at a Glance
Each card shows the president's party, term dates, average approval rating, highest single rating, lowest single rating, and final Gallup approval. Data is from Gallup polls from 1945-2025.
Harry S. Truman
1945-1953 (D)Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953-1961 (R)John F. Kennedy
1961-1963 (D)Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1969 (D)Richard Nixon
1969-1974 (R)Gerald Ford
1974-1977 (R)Jimmy Carter
1977-1981 (D)Ronald Reagan
1981-1989 (R)George H.W. Bush
1989-1993 (R)Bill Clinton
1993-2001 (D)George W. Bush
2001-2009 (R)Barack Obama
2009-2017 (D)Donald Trump (Term 1)
2017-2021 (R)Joe Biden
2021-2025 (D)*JFK's "final" rating is the last Gallup poll before his assassination, not a traditional end-of-term figure. Trump's second term (2025-present) is excluded from the Gallup dataset as Gallup ceased tracking presidential approval in February 2026. His last Gallup reading was approximately 37% in December 2025.
How Each President's Approval Tracked Over Time
This is the chart that tells the real story - how each president's approval rating moved year by year through their time in office. We've split it into two charts for readability, using approximate annual Gallup averages plotted against years in office.
Approval Trajectories: Truman Through Reagan (1945-1989)
Approximate annual Gallup averages by year in office
Approval Trajectories: GHW Bush Through Biden (1989-2025)
Approximate annual Gallup averages by year in office
These two charts should be required reading for anyone who thinks a popular president can stay popular. Look at Truman's line - it falls off a cliff from 82% to the high 20s. GW Bush's line does the exact same thing, just 50 years later. The only president who breaks the pattern is Clinton, whose line actually trends upward in his second term. Reagan recovers nicely too after a rough start. Everyone else grinds down. The modern era chart is especially striking - notice how Trump's and Biden's lines are nearly flat compared to the wild swings of earlier presidents. That's polarization at work. When your floor is 34% and your ceiling is 57%, you're not governing a country. You're managing a fanbase.
Every President Compared
| President | Party | Term | Avg | High | Low | Final | Drop (High to Low) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John F. Kennedy | D | 1961-63 | 70% | 83% | 56% | 58%* | 27 pts |
| Dwight Eisenhower | R | 1953-61 | 65% | 79% | 48% | 59% | 31 pts |
| George H.W. Bush | R | 1989-93 | 61% | 89% | 29% | 56% | 60 pts |
| Lyndon Johnson | D | 1963-69 | 55% | 79% | 35% | 49% | 44 pts |
| Bill Clinton | D | 1993-01 | 55% | 73% | 37% | 66% | 36 pts |
| Ronald Reagan | R | 1981-89 | 53% | 68% | 35% | 63% | 33 pts |
| Richard Nixon | R | 1969-74 | 49% | 67% | 24% | 24% | 43 pts |
| George W. Bush | R | 2001-09 | 49% | 90% | 25% | 34% | 65 pts |
| Barack Obama | D | 2009-17 | 48% | 69% | 40% | 59% | 29 pts |
| Gerald Ford | R | 1974-77 | 47% | 71% | 37% | 53% | 34 pts |
| Jimmy Carter | D | 1977-81 | 46% | 75% | 28% | 34% | 47 pts |
| Harry Truman | D | 1945-53 | 45% | 87% | 22% | 32% | 65 pts |
| Joe Biden | D | 2021-25 | 42% | 57% | 36% | 40% | 21 pts |
| Donald Trump (T1) | R | 2017-21 | 41% | 49% | 34% | 34% | 15 pts |
Source: Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center. Averages are full-term Gallup averages. *JFK's final figure is pre-assassination. Trump's first term only.
How Did Second Terms Compare?
Of the 14 presidents tracked by Gallup, seven served (or were elected to) two terms: Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump. The pattern is remarkably consistent - second terms are almost always rougher than first terms.
Two-Term Presidents: Approval at Key Points
Clinton is the outlier on this list - the only two-term president whose approval rating was higher at the end of his second term (66%) than at the start of his first (58%). The economy was booming, he survived impeachment, and Americans separated their feelings about his personal conduct from their assessment of his job performance. Reagan's final approval (63%) was also strong, but his Iran-Contra low (35%) was brutal. The rest of the two-termers all follow the same arc: start strong, grind down.
Biggest Peak-to-Trough Declines
Some presidents experienced truly spectacular collapses in public approval. The three biggest drops all share something in common - they were driven by crises that the president was seen as either causing or badly mishandling.
| # | President | Peak | Trough | Drop | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George W. Bush | 90% | 25% | 65 pts | 9/11 rally to Iraq War / financial crisis |
| 2 | Harry Truman | 87% | 22% | 65 pts | Post-WWII rally to Korean War stalemate |
| 3 | George H.W. Bush | 89% | 29% | 60 pts | Gulf War rally to economic recession |
| 4 | Jimmy Carter | 75% | 28% | 47 pts | Honeymoon high to Iran hostage crisis / stagflation |
| 5 | Lyndon Johnson | 79% | 35% | 44 pts | Post-assassination sympathy to Vietnam escalation |
| 6 | Richard Nixon | 67% | 24% | 43 pts | First-term high to Watergate |
| 7 | Bill Clinton | 73% | 37% | 36 pts | Post-election high to healthcare reform failure |
Notice a pattern? The three biggest crashes all involve a "rally effect" - a massive spike driven by a national crisis (9/11, WWII ending, Gulf War) followed by an inevitable decline. Presidents who start from crisis-induced highs have further to fall. The three presidents with the smallest peak-to-trough drops? Trump (15 pts), Biden (21 pts) and JFK (27 pts). Trump and Biden never had a rally moment, and Kennedy was assassinated before his ratings could significantly decline.
The Widening Partisan Gap
Perhaps the most striking trend in the entire data set is how the gap between same-party and opposition-party approval has exploded over time. Under Eisenhower and Kennedy, the partisan gap in approval was 27-40 points. Under Trump and Biden, it exceeded 80 points.
Average Partisan Gap in Presidential Approval (Percentage Points)
This chart tells the story of American polarization in a single image. Presidents used to receive meaningful approval from the opposing party - Eisenhower got 49% approval from Democrats, Kennedy got 49% from Republicans. By the time Trump and Biden took office, opposition-party approval had fallen into the single digits. We're no longer evaluating the president. We're evaluating whether our team won.
Gallup shutting down their presidential approval poll in 2026 feels appropriate in a way. When the partisan gap hits 80+ points, you're not really measuring approval of the president anymore - you're measuring party identification. The question "do you approve of the president's job?" has become indistinguishable from "did you vote for this person?" That's not useful polling. It's just a mirror.
Sources & Methodology
All approval ratings sourced from Gallup Presidential Job Approval data as compiled by the American Presidency Project (University of California, Santa Barbara), Gallup's Presidential Approval Center, the Roper Center at Cornell University, and Wikipedia's compilation of Gallup data. Average ratings represent full-term Gallup averages rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g., Carter's precise average was 45.5%, Biden's was 42.2%). High and low figures represent single-poll peaks and troughs. Final ratings are the last Gallup poll before a president left office. JFK's "final" figure is the last poll before his assassination. Partisan gap data from Gallup's historical analysis. Trajectory chart data points are approximate annual Gallup averages for each year in office - directional estimates based on published quarterly and annual data, not precise figures. Trump's second term is excluded from the main data set as Gallup ceased presidential approval tracking in February 2026; his last Gallup reading was approximately 37% in December 2025. FDR is excluded as Gallup tracking began during his presidency and full-term data is incomplete.