Trump's poll numbers are surging as he faces some of the biggest controversies of his presidency

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a news conference near the U.S.-Mexico border (background), outside Laredo, Texas. Reuters/Rick Wilking
  • President Donald Trump has faced intense, sustained media and political backlash to his immigration policies.
  • But amid the controversies, Trump's approval is near a high at 45%.
  • That's about as good as Barack Obama was doing at this stage in his presidency.
  • Many in the US don't trust the media, potentially explaining why the outrage on news programs hasn't shown up in polling.


President Donald Trump has faced intense, sustained backlash to his immigration policies even after a partial reversal of course.

But even as Trump's officials are shouted out of restaurants and called fascists to their faces, Trump's polling numbers have been steady — even rising — over the past several weeks.

A Gallup poll and the RealClearPolitics average of polls both put Trump around a 45% approval rating, with that number rising steadily throughout June. That's just one point lower than Barack Obama was at this point in his presidency.

Over the same period, Trump's border practices drove mainstream news anchors to tears and sparked round-the-clock coverage of family separations. Besides Trump's policy of separating families at the border, which he reversed amid the scrutiny, analysts say his overall immigration policy looks a lot like Obama's.

FiveThirtyEight's poling aggregator tracks a steady rise for Trump during June, putting him at 42.5% approval on the 521st day of his presidency.

As the critical media coverage of Trump's border policies enter its second week, Trump may have waited out the storm.

Additionally, Trump may benefit from the fact that the US public has a very low opinion of the media. A Gallup poll on June 20 found 62% of 1,440 Americans surveyed find traditional news media biased, 44% find it inaccurate, and 39% find it deliberate misinformation.

During June, Trump held a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and got back some very positive jobs numbers, possibly accounting for his bump in approval. It's also possible that the backlash from the immigration controversy could be delayed in seeping into polling numbers.

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