President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have been hovering around 50% recently, according to Rasmussen, about the same or higher than Presidents Obama, Clinton or Reagan at this point in their presidencies. This is in spite of approximately 90% negative press coverage from the mainstream media.
Even a recent CNN poll found that Trump’s approval rating for handling the economy was above 50%. The poll also found that 52% of Americans feel the president is doing a good job keeping the important promises he made during the presidential campaign, and that his approval rating for handling foreign trade is up eight points: seven-in-10 now see foreign trade as an opportunity for economic growth through US exports. 53% say things in the country are going very or fairly well.
Rasmussen also reported that forty-three percent (43%) of likely U.S. voters think the country is heading in the right direction. This is up three points from the previous week. This finding has been running in the 40s for most weeks this year after being in the mid- to upper 20s for much of 2016, President Obama’s last full year in office.
Trump’s long list of accomplishments is no doubt behind the increase in approval ratings. As Trump nears the two-year mark of his historic election and conducts political rallies around the country, the administration has counted up 289 accomplishments in 18 categories, capped by the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Major wins such as adding more than 4 million jobs, reducing the cost of taxes and regulations, rebuilding the military, new trade deals, and more:
- In September, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, the lowest it’s been since December of 1969.
- Blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades.
- Poll found that 85 percent of blue-collar workers believe their lives are headed “in the right direction.”
- 8 percent reported receiving a pay increase in the past year.
- Last year, job satisfaction among American workers hit its highest level since 2005.
- Nearly two-thirds of Americans rate now as a good time to find a quality job.
- Optimism about the availability of good jobs has grown by 25 percent.
- Median household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, a post-recession high.
- Wages up in August by their fastest rate since June 2009.
- Paychecks rose by 3.3 percent between 2016 and 2017, the most in a decade.
- Some 3.9 million Americans off food stamps since the election.
- Median income for Hispanic-Americans rose by 3.7 percent and surpassed $50,000 for the first time ever in history.
- Home-ownership among Hispanics is at the highest rate in nearly a decade.
- Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels ever recorded.
- Small business optimism has hit historic highs: NFIB’s small business optimism index broke a 35-year-old record in August.
- 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future, the highest ever.
- Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.
- Investment is flooding back into the United States due to the tax cuts: Over $450 billion dollars has already poured back into the U.S., including more than $300 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
- 9 in 10 American workers are expected see an increase in their paychecks thanks to the tax cuts, according to the Treasury Department.
- Signed Right-to-Try legislation, expanding health care options for terminally ill patients.
- Enacted changes to the Medicare 340B program, saving seniors an estimated $320 million on drugs in 2018 alone.
- FDA set a new record for generic drug approvals in 2017, saving consumers nearly $9 billion.
- Released a blueprint to drive down drug prices for American patients, leading multiple major drug companies to announce they will freeze or reverse price increases.
Trump also commands very high support from his party. Polls show an average of 84% of Republicans say they approve of his performance. He is hoping this translates into good turnout in the midterm elections.
“If you allow the wrong people to get into office, things could change,” Trump warned Republicans at a rally in Topeka, Kansas, on Saturday night as he urged them to get to the polls. “You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob.”