President Trump’s job approval has increased to 42 percent, according to a new Gallup poll, the highest it has been in the past year.
Trump’s approval rating rarely went higher than 40 percent between May 2017 and April 2018, the pollster noted, adding that it hit 41 percent late last May and in April of this year.
In the past two weeks, Trump’s approval rating increased to 42 percent.
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Recent news coverage, which has focused on the Stormy Daniels scandal and the legal issues concerning Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has been negative towards the administration, Gallup noted.
However, more favorable news, such as North Korea’s apparent willingness to scale back its nuclear program and positive employment figures, have also dominated headlines and could account for Trump’s rating bump.
Trump saw an increase of between 2 and 5 percentage points among Republicans, Democrats and independents in the new poll.
Eighty-nine percent of Republicans approve of Trump, while only 11 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of independents said the same.
Although Trump is witnessing a slight improvement, his approval rating is still low when compared to past presidents.
Presidents in May of their second year in office had on average a 58 percent job approval, according to Gallup.
Trump’s highest rating came in the first 10 days of his presidency, when he had a 45 percent approval rating.
Gallup surveyed 1,507 adults in all 50 states between April 30 and May 6. The new poll has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.