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Donald Trump is very popular right now: Nearly half of Americans like him

Before entering office, the president-elect is at a 46 percent approval rating — the lowest in recent history

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published November 21, 2016 8:08PM (EST)

FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J.  (AP)
FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J. (AP)
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The first grades are coming out for President-elect Donald Trump — and they're not promising.

According to a poll from Politico/Morning Consult, 46 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the presidential election winner. As Politico puts it, his popularity "soars," rising 9 points from where they were right before the election.

In a different survey Pew Research Center released the results of its quadrennial post-election survey on Monday — and they were not promising for President-elect Donald Trump.

Perhaps the most ominous news for Trump from the Pew survey is that he received the lowest grades for how he conducted his campaign of any victorious presidential candidate since 1988. Only 30 percent of voters gave him an A or B, compared  with 19 percent who gave him a C, 15 percent who gave him a D, and 35 percent who gave him an F.

By contrast, 57 percent of voters gave Barack Obama an A or B after his 2012 reelection campaign, while 75 percent gave him a similar score after his 2008 campaign.

Indeed, for the first time in the history of Pew's post-election surveys, more voters gave the losing candidate a higher grade than they did the winning one. Hillary Clinton received a 43 percent mark in the A or B column, which is comparable to Mitt Romney's 44 percent from the 2012 election.

Voters are somewhat more optimistic about the success of Trump's upcoming term, although opinions are predictably polarized based on partisan allegiances. While 56 percent of voters expect Trump to succeed (9 points lower than expectations for Obama in 2008, 67 percent), that number is inflated by the fact that 97 percent of Trump's supporters believe his first term will be successful. Two-thirds of Clinton supporters — 76 percent — believe he will be unsuccessful.

This polarization could be found across the board in terms of voters' attitudes toward Trump. While 96 percent of Trump voters say that his election makes them feel hopeful and 74 percent say it makes them feel proud, only 7 percent of Clinton supporters say it makes them feel hopeful and only 1 percent say it makes them feel proud. Overall, 51 percent of voters feel hopeful after his election and 36 percent feel proud.

If there was one point of agreement, it was that people were surprised Trump was elected at all. 87 percent of Clinton supporters and 60 percent of Trump supporters said they were surprised by his victory, with 73 percent of all voters saying they were taken off guard by the results.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in multiple national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively at Salon since 2016. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, was a guest on Fox Business in 2019, repeatedly warned of Trump's impending refusal to concede during the 2020 election, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in 2021, was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022 and appeared on NPR in 2023. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), animal scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001), director Jason Reitman ("The Front Runner"), inventor Ernő Rubik, comedian Bill Burr ("F Is for Family"), novelist James Patterson ("The President's Daughter"), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, voice actor Rob Paulsen ("Animaniacs"), mRNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó, philosopher of science Vinciane Despret, actor George Takei ("Star Trek"), climatologist Michael E. Mann, World War II historian Joshua Levine (consultant to "Dunkirk"), Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), seismologist John Vidale, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet co-inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing insurrectionist Roger Stone.

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