United States presidential approval rating
historical approval ratings of the US president
In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were first conducted about 1937 by George Gallup to gauge public support for the president of the United States during their term. An approval rating is a percentage of a population sample who approve of a particular person or program, as determined by an opinion poll. Typically, a politician is assigned an approval rating based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that politician. A question might ask: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the current president is handling their job as president?"
Like most surveys that measure opinions, individual poll results may be inaccurate. Many unscientific approval rating systems exist that give inaccurate statistics, such as surveys that self-select, as in online questions. However, the aggregate presidential approval rating is generally accepted by statisticians as a statistically valid indicator of the comparative changes in the popular U.S. mood regarding a president. George W. Bush registered a 90% job approval rating (the highest in Gallup's tracking) shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Harry S. Truman registered a 22% job approval rating (the lowest in Gallup's tracking) in a survey conducted February 9–14, 1952.
In 2026, Gallup announced that it would cease its polling of presidential approval ratings, as well as those of other public figures. Thus, Rasmussen polling is used for Donald Trump's second term, which runs from 2025 to 2029.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “United States presidential approval rating” is historical approval ratings of the US president. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through United, States and presidential, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “historical approval ratings of the US president” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q220924. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1937, 2001, 1952 and 2026.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “United States presidential approval rating”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow United States presidential approval rating primary sources, United States presidential approval rating archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “United States presidential approval rating”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “United States presidential approval rating” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.