CBS host Margaret Brennan recently acknowledged that President Donald Trump has sustained the highest approval rating in his political career just weeks after stepping back into the Oval Office. The president has moved quickly to enact his campaign promises, such as mass deportations and reigning in the federal government to reduce wasteful spending.
During the recent “Face the Nation” segment, Brennan highlighted a CBS News / You Gov poll from earlier this month, showing that 53 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job in office, while only 47 percent disapprove. Notably, this rating is higher than any prior period in Trump’s first term. Brennan and CBS News Director of Elections and Surveys Anthony Salvanto explained that the approval rating results from Trump “doing what he said he would do.”
The host broached the topic stating, “I begin today with our first assessment of how President Trump and his policies are doing just three weeks into his second term. Our CBS poll finds that a majority of Americans, 53% approve of the job he’s doing. That’s a better approval number than he ever reached during his first term in the White House.”
Introducing Salvanto, Brennan questioned the driving force behind the poll. “I will keep it simple, Margaret.” he initially said. “He’s doing in the eyes of the public what he said he would do in the campaign. There’s political value in that,” Salvanto continued, before acknowledging that even Trump’s detractors think he is delivering on his campaign promises. “In fact, 70% of people say he’s doing what he promised. That’s whether they prove him or not,” he said.
The survey director continued, “Now, there’s another part of this that continues over from the campaign. There were words that he was described as being tough, being energetic, and he still is today, in big majority numbers. So as people take a look, in these first few weeks, there’s been a lot of activity, they’re getting that general sense of governance, and that’s being reflected in these early numbers.”
Salvanto further described the popular policy positions that Trump has pursued. “The idea of deporting those in the country illegally continues to be popular. We saw that in the campaign sending troops to the US, Mexico border again, majority in favor. We’ve seen that in the campaign, for his supporters in particular, the focus on ending DEI is popular. We had seen in the campaign. A lot of them thought those processes had gone too far.”
The conversation also addressed the backlash from the left against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which recently moved to shut down USAID alongside propositions the administration with enact cuts against the Department of Education. Salvanto highlighted the stark difference in opinion between Democrats and MAGA supporters.
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“You get very partisan responses on the role that Elon Musk should or should not play. You get a majority of Republicans saying you should have at least some influence, though, it’s more of the Maga base that really wants him to have a lot and a lot of Democrats in opposition. You know, part of this is too the broad goals of cutting spending, of cutting foreign aid, have things that have long been in the polling popular with Republicans,” he said.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.