CNN stunned by Trump poll: ‘Very much unlike what we saw 8 years ago’

Donald Trump’s first week as the 47th President of the United States has been a lot of shock and awe.

There have been a wave of executive orders and actions that we cannot yet truly know the full impact of. But at least one poll says that Americans approve of the chaos that he has unleashed in government since taking over again.

CNN data guru Harry Enten laid the numbers out, citing a Reuters/Ipsos poll heading into the weekend.

“Look the American people really like what they are seeing, at least compared to where Donald Trump started eight years ago,” Enten said as he pointed to a graphic on a screen behind him that showed Trump’s net approval rating at -3 points when he took office in January 2017 and at +6 points now.

“Back in January of 2017, Donald Trump became the first president in US History to start his presidency with a net negative approval rating,” Enten said. “Look at where we are now in January 2025, considerably better at plus-6 points.

“That’s up 9 points,” he continued. “To borrow a Donald Trump phrase, ‘That’s big league.’”

Enten said the poll “is a sign that the American people, at least initially, like what they are seeing.”

“It’s not just that he is doing better than he did eight years ago,” Enten said. “It’s that he is doing better than he ever did during his entire first administration.

“He was never over plus-3,” Enten added.

Enten said the numbers indicate that things have turned around.

“This is a very different Donald Trump,” he said. “He’s leading a very different administration the way he is attacking things, and the American public is very much more in line with him than they were his entire first term.”

Enten said that Trump is the only president to ever have a higher net approval rating in the first month of his second term than he had during the entirety of his first term.

“I don’t make stuff up,” he said. “The numbers are the numbers.”