After 88 Years, Gallup Discontinues Historic Presidential Approval Polling

The Gallup public opinion polling agency has announced that, beginning this year, it will stop publishing approval and favorability ratings for individual political figures in public office.

American Greatness reports that agency announced that it will no longer chart presidential approval ratings, saying in a statement that the move “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.”

The statement from Gallup explains that “Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives.”

“That work will continue through the Gallup Poll Social Series, the Gallup Quarterly Business Review, the World Poll, and our portfolio of U.S. and global research,” the statement continued.

According to Axios, for the better part of the past 8 decades, Gallup’s approval ratings have served as a kind of barometer of American public sentiment toward the White House.

A Gallup spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Feb. 11 that the change took effect at the beginning of this year, saying that tracking approval and favorability for specific politicians “no longer represents an area in which Gallup can contribute in the most unique way.”

“This is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities, and is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission,” the spokesperson said.

“We look forward to continuing to offer independent research that adheres to the highest standards of social science.”

President Trump’s current 36% approval rating is not the lowest among U.S. presidents despite an 11% drop in approval since February 2025.

Sheer historical vandalism. WHY would Gallup voluntarily damage its reputation as the pollster of record by abandoning its 80-year series monitoring presidential approval? (At 36% approval, Trump isn’t even that low compared with GWBush, Carter, Nixon, Truman etc) pic.twitter.com/82LnKTIdp4

— Pippa Norris (@PippaN15) February 11, 2026

President Harry Truman went from an approval rating of 87% in June 1945 to a mere 22% rating in February of 1952.

George W. Bush scored the highest presidential job approval rating at 90% following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but dropped to 25% by October 2008.

Axios reports that President John F. Kennedy had the highest average approval rating among U.S. presidents at 70%.

Gallup has expanded its polling business to surveys outside of politics to cover the public’s trust and happiness on issues like employee workplace engagement and the spread of AI.

While Gallup has stressed that discontinuing approval and favorability surveys is a strategic decision made independently, Bill Pan reports for The Epoch Times that the move comes as Trump threatened legal action over unfavorable polling that he denounced as fake.

In January, Trump said he would expand his existing defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after the newspaper, in partnership with Siena College, published a poll finding that just 34 percent of independent voters approved of his job performance about one year into his second term—a result he said did not reflect reality and was fabricated to damage him.

“The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they ‘computed’ these fake results—Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”

The New York Times dismissed the president’s criticism, saying in a statement that the paper’s polls “have been widely cited for their rigor.”

In response to a question from The Hill as to whether Gallup had received any feedback from the current administration before deciding to make the change, the polling agency responded, “this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.”