Americans’ approval of Congress has skyrocketed under President Trump, who hit the ground running with an ambitious agenda as soon as he took office.
According to a new Gallup survey, approval numbers for Congress are now at the highest level they’ve been since Barack Obama’s first year in office—up 12 points in the last month to 28 percent.
Among Republicans, the approval rating is even higher at 50 percent, which is a 30-point increase from last month.
Not surprisingly, Democrats have a less favorable view of the Republican-controlled Congress, down 8 points from January to 11 percent.
As Gallup notes, this is the largest month-to-month increase since the rise between January 2009 and February 2009, when Obama first took office.
“Although each new Congress essentially begins work on Jan. 3 when newly elected members of both houses are sworn in, Americans' approval of Congress this year and in 2009 did not change significantly until after the inauguration of the new president,” Gallup notes.
Thus, Congress has Trump to thank for the higher approval rating.
"The installment of a Republican in the White House is likely giving Republicans newfound confidence that the GOP-led Congress will be effective in the ways they want it to be,” states Gallup’s analysis. “Or, the jump in approval of the Republican-controlled Congress could be a spillover effect of Republicans' positive feelings about Trump in general.”