The survey found that 48 percent approve of the job Trump is doing, compared to 52 percent who said they disapprove, up from 45 percent approval in March. The last time the president’s job approval rating reached 48 percent in the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey was in June of 2017.
The cause for such a shift was presumably the economy, with a record 62 percent approving of his approach to employment and 59 percent approving of his handling of the economy.
“People’s views on the economy are gradually pushing Trump’s numbers up and his actions on other issues like China and immigration are neutral to positive,” said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey. “Every point of increase in this range of 45 to 50 improves the possibility of re-election.”
The president’s job approval rating is at 42.5 percent in the RealClearPolitics average. A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found Trump at 48 percent, but six other recent polls found him ranging between 38 percent and 44 percent.
However, some of the survey findings are not so positive for the US president. Only 37 percent of voters said they would definitely or probably vote for Trump in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 42 percent who said they would definitely or probably vote for the Democratic nominee. Twelve percent of voters are unsure, and 9 percent said they’d vote for an independent or third-party candidate.
READ MORE: Heading South? Trump's Mexican Tariffs Cause Stock Tumble
Also, a slim majority of voters, 52 percent, say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration. Late Thursday, the president said he would impose new tariffs on Mexico unless the country puts an end to illegal immigration at the southern border.
Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and The Harris Poll. The online survey of 1,295 registered voters was conducted from May 29 to May 30.
