President Donald Trump gets called “divisive” by the mainstream media on practically a daily basis. If the first poll numbers of his new administration are anything to go by, however, he’ll take “divisive” any day of the week.
A new CBS/YouGov poll found that 53 percent of Americans approve of the job he’s doing in the Oval Office, compared with 47 percent who disapprove.
Even CBS’ Margaret Brennan — no fan of Trump — couldn’t help but be impressed by the numbers when she assessed them on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“That’s a better approval number than he ever reached during his first term in the White House,” she noted.
Anthony Salvanto, CBS News’ executive director of elections and surveys, was similarly impressed.
When asked what was driving the numbers, he said he would “keep it simple.”
“He’s doing, in the eyes of the public, what he said he would do in the campaign,” he said.
“There’s political value in that. In fact, 70 percent of people say he’s doing what he promised. That’s whether they approve of him or not. 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.”
Not only that, the policies seemed to be popular, as well.
“Again, these echo a lot of what we saw in the campaign,” he said. “The idea of deporting those in the country illegally continues to be popular. We saw that in the campaign.”
On that issue, 59 percent approved, 41 percent disapproved.
“Sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, again, majority in favor,” Salvanto said. “We’d seen that in the campaign.”
That was even more popular: 64 percent approve, 36 percent disapprove.
“For his supporters in particular, the focus on ending DEI is popular,” he added. “We had seen in the campaign a lot of them thought those processes had gone too far.”
🔥 CBS POLL: President Trump’s approval rating is better than it has ever been.
“He’s doing, in the eyes of the public, what he said he would do … 70% of people say he’s doing what he promised.” pic.twitter.com/O7Ze6lltJU
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 9, 2025
It’s worth noting that these numbers aren’t just a honeymoon period like most presidents get. First off, Trump’s already been president, which meant people had an opinion of him, for better or for ill. Their opinion of him is now higher than its ever been.
Second, Trump isn’t taking the usual new president’s route of tackling simple stuff that appeals to the base and only has longer-term impacts first. No talk of ending Keystone XL permits or pushing activist-favored legislation that has no chance of passing like during Biden’s first hundred days.
These are the meat-and-potatoes issues that Trump has vowed to fight over during his four years in office. Not only did it get him elected, he’s winning on those issues — bigly, as the man might say.
Not only that, 70 percent of respondents said that he was doing what he promised. That means love him or loathe him, he’s keeping his word.
There were bits of piece of bad news, as there are always going to be with any Trump-centric poll — although they were mainly bad-ish news as opposed to anything with serious, unfixable consequences. According to Axios, 66 percent wanted him to focus more on lowering prices, although this is a long-term goal.
In addition, the most sharp split and tepid response was on the power that the Department of Government Efficiency had, with 44 percent of Republicans saying it should have “some” influence while only 13 percent of Democrats say it should.
Is Margaret Brennan trustworthy?
Yes: 4% (14 Votes)
No: 96% (380 Votes)
But the key takeaway was that cracking down on illegal immigration is broadly popular — and if “Face the Nation” has trouble figuring this out, it should watch more of its own broadcasts.
Two weeks ago, Brennan was interviewing Vice President J.D. Vance when the subject of vetting of illegal immigrants came up. Brennan insisted they were being properly screened.
“Just like the guy who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago?” Vance responded, referencing an Afghan who is accused of plotting an attack after being allowed entry into the United States.
“He was allegedly properly vetted,” Vance said regarding the suspect, “and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said that he was properly vetted. Clearly he wasn’t.
“I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted, and because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not gonna force any other American citizen’s kids to do that either.”
“No,” Brennan replied. “And that was a very particular case. It wasn’t clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here.”
Then came Vance, with a viral mic-drop that would become a social media cri de cœur for conservatives: “I don’t really care, Margaret.”
JD Vance has swiftly become MAGA’s next super star.
“I don’t really care, Margaret” will be the new rally cry. pic.twitter.com/WySBkNv6qA
— Chandler Crump (@realCCrump) January 27, 2025
And that’s what America wants: I really don’t care, [insert wokeness peddler here]. We’re going to do what we’re elected to do, and we’re going to do it no matter what pleasant-sounding lies you want to peddle.
Two weeks later, those poll numbers. Welcome to 2025, Margaret Brennan. May the rest of the media join you speedily, should this winning continue uninterrupted.
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