Trump's approval rating at 54 percent as president-elect

A slight majority of registered voters approve of the job President-elect Trump is doing leading up to his second White House administration, according to a new poll.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found 54 percent of respondents said they approve of Trump’s performance, compared to 40 percent who said they disapprove. The amount of respondents who approve is boosted by the 91 percent of Republicans who said so, but it also includes 49 percent of independents and 22 percent of Democrats.

Almost three-quarters of Democrats and about 40 percent of independents said they disapprove of the president-elect.

The poll comes as Trump has begun his transition to be sworn into office on Jan. 20, announcing a variety of nominations for his Cabinet. They include Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for secretary of State and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for United Nations ambassador, along with more controversial choices like former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of Defense.

The poll found at least a plurality of respondents approve of Trump’s performance for most age groups, including a majority of those ages 18 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54. More 55-to-64-year-olds approve than disapprove, while a slight majority of those ages 65 and older disapprove.

Trump’s approval rating as president-elect is 12 points higher than what the poll found for President Biden’s rating, which stands at 42 percent, in line with where it has been for the past few months in the poll.

While in office, Trump’s approval rating in Gallup surveys never reached 50 percent, peaking at 49 percent on a few occasions. Pollster Mark Penn said this poll’s findings are important for him if he is to be able to govern.

“It’s a good start he is above 50 in job approval so far — it will be important for him to stay above that level to govern effectively,” Penn said.

The GOP was able to win control of both chambers of Congress along with Trump’s victory, but the party’s margins will be narrow.

Respondents’ approval of the Republican Party ticked up a bit, rising from 46 percent last month to 49 percent this month, while approval of the Democratic Party dropped from 47 percent to 44 percent. Just more than a quarter of voters said the country is currently on the right track, a 4-point drop from October.

Pollsters also found the country closely divided on various questions concerning the president-elect, including his pending criminal charges. Just more than half of respondents (53 percent) said Trump should still be tried on the charges he is facing, while 47 percent said the cases should be dismissed.

Judge Juan Merchan is considering Trump’s request to dismiss his conviction in his New York hush money case or at least delay the sentencing set for next week. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Tuesday that it opposes the dismissal but left the door open to freezing the case until Trump leaves office.

A small majority of respondents said they believe Trump is trying to unite the country, while just a little bit less said Trump is a threat to democracy.

The biggest concerns for Democrats in a second Trump administration are the incoming president acting like a dictator, the government and agencies being irreparably damaged and his moving too far to the right, while the biggest concern for Republicans is massive protests from the left and political gridlock.

The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey was conducted from Nov. 13 to 14 and surveyed 1,732 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. The margin of error was 2.3 percentage points.