Voters’ view of former President Donald Trump’s presidency improved nine points after President Joe Biden assumed office, a New York Times/Siena poll found Saturday.
Under Biden, costs soared nearly 20 percent across the board, wars broke out in the Middle East and Ukraine, the U.S. experienced the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, and over 1.7 million known “gotaways” (illegal aliens) entered the country.
Key polling metrics show Trump became far more positive since 2020:
- 42 percent said Trump’s tenure was “mostly good for America,” compared to only 25 percent for Biden.
- More voters (up 11 points) regard Trump as a “safe choice” than previously viewed in 2016.
- More voters (up 10 points) approve of his handling of the economy.
- More voters (up 9 points) think Trump left the country better off.
- More voters (up 8 points) approve of Trump’s handling of maintaining law and order.
Forty-three percent of respondents voted for Biden in 2020, while only 36 percent voted for Trump.
The poll sampled 1,059 registered voters from April 7-11 with a 3.7 point margin of error.
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The Times reported on how voters shifted their perspective:
While the memories of Mr. Trump’s tumultuous and chaotic administration have not significantly faded, many voters now have a rosier picture of his handling of the economy, immigration and maintaining law and order. Ahead of the 2020 election, only 39 percent of voters said that the country was better off after Mr. Trump took office. Now, looking back, nearly half say that he improved things during his time as president.
The poll’s findings underscore the way in which a segment of voters have changed their minds about the Trump era, recalling those years as a time of economic prosperity and strong national security. The shift in views about his administration comes even as Mr. Trump faces dozens of felony counts and will appear in a New York courtroom on Monday for jury selection in one of his four criminal trials.
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Many of Mr. Trump’s key constituencies, such as white voters without a college degree, are particularly likely to have a fond view of his time in office. But a broad swath of the country — including Hispanic voters, voters over 30 and most lower- and middle-income voters — now see Mr. Trump’s years in office as more good than bad.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.