2018 US Politics - President Trump's Approval Rating Rose to 41% this Week (January 3)

Listen to The Point Being, a podcast from the Ipsos Polling Team, where Phil Elwood, Chris Jackson and Mallory Newall discuss this week’s numbers.

With the holidays and President Trump's first major legislative win with Tax Reform, President Trump's approval rating rose to 41% this week, a 6-point increase from last week. Despite the passage of tax reform, just 41% of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of taxation and just a quarter of Americans (25%) approve of Congress as a whole. Americans are much more generous with their individual representatives, with 44% approving of their Congressperson.

Looking ahead to the 2018 midterm elections, a plurality of Americans (38%) report that if the election for U.S. Congress were held today they would vote for the Democratic candidate compared to those who would vote Republican (31%). Independents are split between a Democratic (15%), a Republican (14%) and third-party candidate (18%). Currently, just one-in-ten (11%) Americans report they would not vote.

Healthcare (18%) continues to top the charts of the most important problem facing America today, followed by terrorism (14%) and the economy (13%). Democrats are much more likely to view healthcare (25%) as a major concern, followed distantly by the economy (13%). Republicans view terrorism (22%) as the most important problem, followed by healthcare (13%). Independents are equally concerned with healthcare (16%) and the economy (16%).

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters November December 29-January 2, 2017. For the survey, a sample of 1,770 Americans, including 749 Democrats,  624 Republicans, 229 Independents ages 18+ were interviewed online.