The approval tracker is a daily weighted average of published approval polls.

How it differs from the global standard

• Approval, not vote intention: the figures are approve / disapprove of the president, not party vote share.
• One source: Only polls from the New York Times poll list enter the average. To count, a pollster needs at least five recorded polls over at least 90 days; earlier polls we recorded from other sources count towards that track record.

Method in use: us-approval-2026.1b

Methodology updated 18 October 2026. We regularly refine the method. The method is now: Pollster quality scores are not used: every pollster carries the same quality weight, and no score threshold applies. Polls the New York Times labels as having a partisan sponsor are excluded. Polls are weighted by recency, sample size, population and whether they are tracking polls, as before. Previously: Pollsters were weighted by a quality score, and those scoring below 0.4 were left out. Polls the New York Times labels as having a partisan sponsor were counted. Figures for earlier dates stay as they were stored on 18 October 2026.

Correction, 22 October 2026. One poll in our average, Echelon Insights (15 to 19 October 2026, 1,010 likely voters), was counted at 32% approve and 67% disapprove. The correct figures are 39% and 60%, as in the pollster's release. We applied them on 22 October and recalculated the days from 19 to 22 October. Our last update before the correction that day showed 35.1% approve and 62.3% disapprove (net -27.2); the next, with no other poll recorded as added or revised, showed 35.4% and 62.0% (net -26.6). The figures as first published are kept in our records.

Methodology updated 17 October 2026. We regularly refine the method. The method is now: the average combines published national polls of Donald Trump's performance as president, from the New York Times file of approval polls. It includes polls of US adults and, where eligible, of registered or likely voters. It should be read as a summary of recent polling, not an exact measurement of approval among all US adults. Each release counts once towards a pollster's record, and only releases fielded by the day being calculated count. Where a poll reports more than one population, one figure is taken by the same order for every pollster. Reuters/Ipsos is weighted as a standard poll. We do not currently publish an uncertainty interval, and the 7-day and 30-day changes are shown once 7 and 30 days of figures under this method exist. Previously: polls were added to the record only within 45 days of fieldwork. Each population figure counted separately towards a pollster's record. Where two population figures from one poll were both held, the larger sample was used. Reuters/Ipsos was weighted as a tracking poll. The average was shown with a 95% uncertainty interval. Figures for earlier dates stay as they were stored on 17 October 2026.

• Source: Only polls from the New York Times poll list enter the average. To count, a pollster needs at least five recorded polls over at least 90 days; earlier polls we recorded from other sources count towards that track record. Rasmussen Reports polls fielded after 28 July 2026 are not counted. Polls the New York Times labels as having a partisan sponsor are excluded.
• What is included: polls with a fieldwork midpoint in the past 45 days and at least 400 respondents. Each pollster contributes its most recent release, and each release one population: the one the pollster leads with, then registered voters, then likely voters, then adults.
• Which pollsters are counted: every pollster with at least five releases and 90 days between its first and latest release. The same rule applies to every pollster; no quality score is used.
• Weights: recency (a 14-day half-life), sample size and population. Every pollster carries the same quality weight. Tracking polls carry a reduced weight. This is not an equal-weight average.
• Uncertainty: no uncertainty interval is published at present.
• Revisions: each day the past 28 days of figures under this method are recalculated as late polls arrive. Figures for dates before 18 October 2026 stay as they were stored on that date.
• Change figures: the 7-day change is shown once 7 days of figures under this method exist, and the 30-day change once 30 days exist.
• Net approval: the published approve figure minus the published disapprove figure.

How to read it

It summarises recent published polls, weighted as this page describes. It is not compared with, or adjusted towards, other aggregators' averages. Current figures, and the polls in the average with their weights, are on the approval tracker.