Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Gallup Will No Longer Track Presidential Approval Ratings
The monthly poll has been used to measure presidential performance for almost nine decades.
by https://www.nytimes.com/by/ruth-igielnik · NY TimesAfter nearly 90 years, the Gallup Organization will no longer track presidential approval ratings, which served as a steady way to measure Americans’ views of their elected leaders.
The polling firm, which has been tracking presidential approval since Franklin D. Roosevelt, said that the decision was based on a shift in corporate strategy, intended to focus more on issues and policy polling.
“We’re focused on providing analytics that inform and drive meaningful change,” Justin McCarthy, a spokesman for Gallup, said.
The company will also continue to conduct the annual Gallup World Poll, which measures public attitudes in about 140 countries around the world.
Gallup’s move has echoes of its 2015 decision to discontinue presidential election polling, also known as horse race polling, that measured which candidates were ahead, leading up to elections.
At the time, Frank Newport, who was then Gallup’s editor in chief, stressed that the decision was about reallocating resources to figure out Gallup’s role in “keeping the voice of the people injected into the democratic process.”
As more and more polls flood the market, it can be hard for any single poll to distinguish itself anymore. The New York Times presidential approval rating included more than 50 polls conducted in January 2025.
But Gallup’s approval ratings went far beyond what many other pollsters can provide. Its 88 years of data give historical context to what amounts to a monthly snapshot of Americans’ views. Political and news media analysts have come to rely on the poll to understand shifting trends in the country over time.
Gallup’s polls are also conducted over the phone using live interviewers, an increasingly rare but robust methodology that has a record of accuracy.
Gallup’s decision comes as President Trump has escalated his threats against the press, and sued at least one respected pollster, J. Ann Selzer. He accused Ms. Selzer and The Des Moines Register of election interference after publishing a poll just before the general election showing Kamala Harris leading in Iowa. Mr. Trump won the state by 13 percentage points.
Gallup’s last presidential approval rating, in December 2025, put Mr. Trump’s rating at 36 percent, among his lowest ratings as president.