A lot of coverage in the international press suggests President Trump’s popularity has fallen sharply to low levels since taking office. It’s true his net favourability rating has fallen sharply since January, when he briefly had a positive net favourability rating, however, it remains higher than in his first term and most of the time he was out of office. While President Trump’s net favourability score has fallen around 10 percentage points, it fell 15 percentage points when he came to office in 2016 before recovering and stabilising over the remainder of his term.

A poll on whether the country is going in the right direction indicates many Americans agree with the actions President Trump is taking. Around 40% of respondents believe that the United States is going in the right direction, significantly higher than for almost all of the Obama and Biden Presidencies and around the peaks of President Trump’s first term.

The US public also hold a relatively favourable view of Congress, despite it being criticised by many inside and outside of the country. The public’s approval rating for Congress tends to jump at the start of a President’s term, particularly if the President’s party controls both houses, as in 2009 (Obama), 2015 and 2017 (Trump) and 2021 (Biden). The current approval rating for Congress is higher than for almost all of the first Trump Presidency.

Drawing the focus away from politicians and onto policies, US consumers’ optimism around Federal policies is above average, although lower than it was before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumers’ optimism on the US Government’s policies, however, does not translate to strong optimism on their own financial position which is a little below its historical average.

While Americans have a fairly positive perspective on the state of their country, Australians are less impressed. The Lowy Institute’s poll indicates that Australians’ trust in the United States has been declining for 15 years, and it fell sharply in 2025 (the survey was conducted in March, before tariffs had been announced). This is despite it recovering during the pandemic. Notably older Australians lost their trust in the United States to be just as pessimistic as younger Australians.

All up, polls don’t suggest that declining popularity will change the direction of policies in the United States. Australians will have to deal with tariffs on our exports and ‘America first’ policies, and that’s unlikely to see a recovery in Australians’ trust in the United States.

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