Trump Leaves Office With Lowest Favorability Ratings Since 2016 Campaign
Outgoing President Donald Trump has left office with his lowest favorability ratings since the summer of 2016. In the wake of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s impeachment for inciting the riot, 31% of Americans hold favorable views of Trump, while 67% hold unfavorable views of him, including a 54% majority of Americans who hold very unfavorable views of him. In November, after the election, 37% of Americans viewed Trump favorably and 62% unfavorably. Then, 44% viewed him very unfavorably.
Party Affiliation
Most of the decline in Trump’s favorability ratings has come from Republicans. More than seven in ten Republicans (72%) still view the outgoing president favorably, a 13-percentage point decline since November when 85% viewed him favorably. Less than three in ten independents (28%) view Trump favorably, and only 5% of Democrats say the same. These numbers are not significantly different from November, when 32% of independents and 6% of Democrats held favorable views of the outgoing president.
Religious Affiliation
White evangelical Protestants continue to be most likely to hold favorable views of Trump (62%), similar to the share observed among this group in November (59%). He has lost ground among white Catholics, 39% of whom view him favorably, compared to a slim majority (51%) in November. Four in ten white mainline Protestants (41%) hold favorable views of the outgoing president, which is an increase from 34% in November but not statistically significant.
Christians of color and religiously unaffiliated Americans continue to express low ratings of Trump. Less than one in five Protestants of color (19%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (19%) view Trump favorably.
Race and Ethnicity, Gender, and Education
Just over four in ten white Americans (41%) hold favorable views of Trump, compared to just 8% of Black Americans and 16% of Hispanic Americans.[1]
Gender divides persist in perceptions of Trump. Men (36%) are more likely to hold favorable views of Trump than women (26%). White men (46%) and white women (36%) are both more likely to express favorable views of Trump, compared to 18% of men of color and 11% of women of color.
White Americans without college degrees continue to hold more favorable views of Trump than those who have four-year degrees. Currently, half of white Americans with less than a four-year college degree (46%) hold favorable views of Trump, which is consistent with previous months. Around one-third of white Americans with at least a four-year degree (29%) hold favorable views of the president. Neither group is significantly different from November.
Biden Takes Office With Majority of the Country Viewing Him Favorably
A majority of Americans (55%) view newly installed President Biden favorably. Biden has had majority favorable views since October 2020.
Party Affiliation
Biden continues to be viewed favorably by about nine in ten Democrats (89%). These numbers have not shifted substantially since rising to that level in September 2020. A majority (54%) view Biden very favorably. A slim majority of independents (51%) view the new president favorably, a slight decrease since November (58%). Only 16% of Republicans view Biden favorably.
Religious Affiliation
More than six in ten nonwhite Protestants (68%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (63%) hold favorable views of Biden, and just under half of white Catholics (48%) hold favorable views of Biden. These groups have not shifted significantly since November. However, Biden has lost considerable ground among white mainline Protestants (44%) and white evangelical Protestants (20%) compared to November (64% and 42%, respectively).
Race, Gender, and Education
Substantial majorities of Black (76%) and Hispanic (70%) Americans view Biden favorably, mostly unchanged from November. A majority of Black Americans (53%) view Biden very favorably. The new president has lost a bit of ground with white Americans, 45% of whom view him favorably compared to 54% in November.
Women (58%) are slightly more likely than men (50%) to rate Biden favorably. Biden has lost some support among white men, 41% of whom view him favorably compared to 50% in November, and white women (49% compared to 57% in November). There is no gender gap between men of color (68%) and women of color (71%), who view Biden much more favorably than their white counterparts.
White Americans are divided along education lines, with less than half of white Americans with less than a four-year college degree (38%) saying they have a favorable view of Biden, compared to six in ten of those with at least a four-year degree (61%). In November, nearly half of white Americans with less than a four-year college degree (48%) expressed favorable views of Biden, while the views among those with at least a four-year degree are unchanged (62%).
Methodology and Footnotes
The survey was designed and conducted by PRRI among a random sample of adults (age 18 and up) living in the United States and who are part of Ipsos’s Knowledge Panel. The survey included a national sample (N=1,019) representing all 50 states. Interviews were conducted online between January 15 and January 18, 2021. The margin of error for the national survey is +/- 3.2 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence, which includes the design effect.
[1] The number of cases for Black Americans in November is n=83.