Trump’s Favorability Rating Holds Steady Post Election, Before Inauguration

President-elect Donald J. Trump is still enjoying increased favorability ratings post election, though he dipped below the 50-percent majority threshold. The PPD Poll, which conducted the most accurate surveys in 2016 on both the national and statewide level, finds 49% of likely voters now view the New York businessman favorably, down slightly from 52% two weeks ago.

Interestingly, his image among minorities improved on the margins but ticked down among whites. This week, 59% of whites view Mr. Trump favorably, down from 61% in the prior PPD Poll. Though the percentage of black voters who view him favorably also fell to 10% this week, down from 15%, the percentage viewing him unfavorably also fell from 71% to 69%. The same dynamic was found among Hispanics, with the Trump favorability gauge falling from 33% to 31% at the same time the percentage viewing him unfavorably fell from 66% to 64%.

Female voters also appear to be softening somewhat toward the incoming president, with the percentage of women viewing him unfavorably falling from 49% to 46%. In the last PPD Poll, 59% of male voters had propelled the Trump favorability gauge to its highest level ever, but this week it ticked back down a tad to 56%.

The PPD Poll, which suspended results during the Christmas week, was conducted before President-elect Trump announced Sprint has agreed to bring back some 5,000 jobs to the U.S. and OneWeb investing at home rather than abroad to the tune of 3,000 jobs.

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On the question, “Do you approve or disapprove of how President-elect Donald J. Trump is handling the transition?” a still solid 53% still say they approve and only 36% still say they disapprove. That disapproval rating is down from 38% in the prior PPD Poll and from 41% measured the week before last. The approval number is also down, but only 3 points from 56%.

Throughout the campaign, PPD Polls repeatedly found voters had a more favorable image of Mr. Trump in the battleground states than voters nationwide. For example, in the final PPD Sunshine State Battleground Poll, 45% of Floridians had a favorable view of the then-Republican presidential candidate, while 52% had an unfavorable view of him.

The PPD Poll follows level 1 AAPOR standards of disclosure and WAPOR/ESOMAR code of conduct. The survey was conducted from Dec. 16 to Dec. 28–excluding Dec. 24 thru 25–and is based on 2102 interviews of likely voters participating in the PPD Internet Polling Panel.