Gallup Ends Presidential Approval Polling After 88 Years—Likely Because an Unwanted, Unpopular President Disapproved

The Gallup Poll announced this month it would no longer measure presidential approval or other national leadership ratings. It was a surprise to pollsters and journalists who report on public opinion, because George Gallup was the pollster who initiated presidential approval ratings in the 1930s. Over the past nine decades, the organization has developed the most extensive database available, allowing journalists to compare approval ratings among all presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt at various stages of their tenure.

In fact, that very ability may have been the catalyst for Gallup dropping the ratings. Last November, Gallup (11/28/25) reported President Donald Trump’s approval rating as the lowest in his second term (36%), just barely above his lowest rating ever in January 2021, after he fomented the insurrection in an effort to avoid leaving office. His average approval rating in his first term was the lowest of any president since such polling began.

The November report also noted that Trump’s net approval ratings had dropped significantly on several items since the previous February/March: immigration (-9 points), situation in the Middle East (-7), economy (-6), federal budget (-12) and the situation in Ukraine (-10).

The December report (12/22/25) was not any better. Trump’s approval rating remained at 36%, while ratings on seven other personal characteristics were at a new low or near a new low:

Also problematic for Gallup was that its approval ratings consistently showed numbers below the average of other polls. Across ten approval ratings Gallup published in 2025, the net rating averaged 8.7 points lower than the average that Nate Silver (formerly of 538 and now of Silver Bulletin) compiled from other polls. [MORE]