In the first week of December, one month after his election, President-elect Donald Trump reached a new milestone in his political career, achieving a net-positive favorability rating in the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average for the first time.
When Trump launched his candidacy on July 6, 2015, his favorability rating was just 22.7%, while his unfavorability stood at a staggering 62%, eventually peaking at 64.5% in mid-April 2016. However, after his 2016 election victory, his unfavorability began to decline, dropping to 47.8% by New Year’s Day 2017. During the same period, his favorability climbed to 44.5% by mid-December 2016.
Despite these gains, Trump’s favorability never exceeded 45% during his presidency or during President Joe Biden’s term. Starting from a low of 36.8% on December 20, 2022, his favorability began to rise intermittently in the following months but remained below his unfavorability rating. It wasn’t until October 12, 2024, that his favorability crossed the 45% mark, reaching 45.4%, while his unfavorability still stood at 52%.
In the lead-up to the November election, the gap between Trump’s favorability and unfavorability ratings steadily narrowed. By December 4, his favorability rating had finally surpassed his unfavorability rating.
Trump’s determined rise to the presidency, despite facing intense media criticism, legal battles, impeachment efforts, assassination attempts, and other challenges, prompted former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to remark:
If you’re a relatively sophisticated leader around the world, and you watch nine years of the rise of Donald Trump, and you watch two impeachments, and you watch all of these efforts to catch him in the law, and you watch two assassination attempts and the guy just keeps coming, — as I said the other day, this is a mythic figure, almost like the various Scandinavian Beowulfs and other kinds of sagas. There’s no practical way that you can explain Trump within a normal political structure.
