A number of his actions are wildly unpopular. The Jan 6th Pardons, and his pro-Putin agenda. His polling is historically poor for a month into a president's term, and there are large protests around the country. In another month, his polling will be completely underwater.
Back in the day much was said about Bush's "historically low" approval ratings too. It was somewhat satisfying to see, but in the end it didn't really seem to matter much. He still got re-elected.
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-starts-new-term-with-...
George W. Bush's initial approval ratings were technically historically low, but were 57% gross approval, and +32% net; the lowest (from Eisenhower forward) prior was his immediate predecessor at 58% gross and +38% net.
But that's nothing like Trump's "historically low" initial ratings this term, at 48% gross, -1% net, which also dropped by mid-February to 45% gross, -6% net (with a majority -- 51% -- registering disapproval.)
https://news.gallup.com/poll/655955/trump-inaugural-approval...
https://news.gallup.com/poll/656891/trump-job-approval-ratin...
For nonviolent pardons, 42% overall support it (and 76% of Republicans).
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/20/trump-pol...
If you ask those same Republicans if they would pardon a violent offender who committed crimes in an attempt to defend Trump's claims of victory on January 6, you would get a very different answer.
You can hate the guy all you like, but this is 100% false.
> You can hate the guy all you like, but this is 100% false.
It's absolutely true.
His second term started with the second lowest initial gross approval rating (47%) of a Presidential term back to 1953; the worst was his first term (at 45%). But his initial rating was also the worst net approval of any President (with 48% disapproval, for a net -1%, breaking the prior record set by his own first term with 45% disapproval for a net 0%, and having the unprecedented condition of not merely net disapproval but majority disapproval this early in a term.)
AT mid-February, his gross approval had dropped to 45% (and remained the second worst since 1953, again the only worse being his own first term), and his net approval had dropped to -6% on 51% disapproval. As well as having less approval than any term other than his first, Trump is faced with the historically-unusual fact that the not-approving numbers early on aren't mostly neutral, but disapproving.