--- description: A side-by-side comparison of the crowds at President Obama and President Trump's inaugurations reveals that Trump's crowd is much smaller. title: President Trump's Inauguration Crowd Doesn't Look Like Barack Obama's Did in 2009 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99aad7606d99eedf/6988b66b2dce016adb9ebf7b/obama-wd-trump-inauguration-crowd-comparison.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump's Inauguration Crowd Doesn't Look Like Barack Obama's Did in 2009 ## Video: Donald Trump Takes the Presidential Oath [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Takes the Presidential Oath](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/F7LToUNX.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2017-01-20. Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States._  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jan 20, 2017 7:30 PM CUT  A composite image shows the inauguration crows for Barack Obama in 2009, left, and Donald Trump in 2017. A composite image shows the inauguration crows for Barack Obama in 2009, left, and Donald Trump in 2017.Emily Barnes—Getty Images; Lucas Jackson—Reuters  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jan 20, 2017 7:30 PM CUT A side-by-side comparison of the crowds at former [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4631137/president-obama-farewell-speech-highlights/ "undefined") and [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/president-donald-trump-inauguration-day-photos/ "undefined")‘s respective inaugurations reveals that Trump’s crowd isn’t as large as he boasted it would be. Two aerial photographs of the National Mall from the two historic days reveal large patches of white ground exposed during Trump’s ceremony, spaces crowds had filled during Obama’s 2009 inauguration. The pictures were taken around the same time during the day, Trump’s at 11:04 a.m. and Obama’s at 11:30 a.m. Federal and local agencies [estimated](http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Trump-Inauguration-Crowd-Estimates-410559995.html "undefined") 700,000 to 900,000 people would be in Washington, D.C. for Trump’s inauguration on Friday, roughly half the number of people who attended Obama’s first presidential inauguration. Obama’s second inauguration also drew more people, approximately 1 million. However, the media will not know exactly how many people attended Trump’s inauguration until a final count is released in a few weeks. Still, the pictures stand in stark contrast to Trump’s [assurances](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/movies/trump-meryl-streep-golden-globes-speech.html "undefined") to the _New York Times_ that his inauguration would draw an “unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout.” The images quickly went viral on social media with “The Mall” trending on Twitter. ### See Photos From Every Presidential Inauguration LIFE Magazine Ever Covered  A view of the inauguration ceremony of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Third inauguration ceremony of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fourth inauguration ceremony of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Harry S. Truman riding with Vice President Alben Barkley during the Presidential Inauguration parade, 1949. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Eisenhower Inaugural, 1953. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the first lady, riding in a car during the Inaugural ceremonies. 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President John Kennedy and wife Jacqueline during the Inauguration Day Parade, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lyndon Johnson giving the inaugural address at his inauguration. First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson is seated to his right, 1965. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President Richard M. Nixon's inauguration, 1969. Henry Groskinsky—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/"},"headline":"President Trump's Inauguration Crowd Doesn't Look Like Barack Obama's Did in 2009","datePublished":"2017-01-20T19:30:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:09.986Z","description":"Side-by-side images reveal Obama's crowd was much larger","url":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99aad7606d99eedf/6988b66b2dce016adb9ebf7b/obama-wd-trump-inauguration-crowd-comparison.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99aad7606d99eedf/6988b66b2dce016adb9ebf7b/obama-wd-trump-inauguration-crowd-comparison.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"obama-wd-trump-inauguration-crowd-comparison","caption":"A composite image shows the inauguration crows for Barack Obama in 2009, left, and Donald Trump in 2017.","creditText":"Emily Barnes—Getty Images; Lucas Jackson—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/","name":"President Trump's Inauguration Crowd Doesn't Look Like Barack Obama's Did in 2009"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump Takes the Presidential Oath","description":"Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/F7LToUNX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-20T17:10:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/F7LToUNX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/","duration":"PT47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```