--- description: President Donald Trump has a higher approval rating than House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to a new poll title: This Republican Leader Has a Lower Approval Rating Than President Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c8a47b4b53bf047/6988c31acd1bba77ca704c00/paul-ryan-trump.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 * [republicans](/tag/republicans/) ## republicans Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paul Ryan Has a Lower Approval Rating Than Donald Trump by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2017 4:00 PM CUT  US President Donald Trump speaks to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan after signing House Joint Resolution 41, which removes some Dodd-Frank regulations on oil and gas companies, during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017. US President Donald Trump speaks to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan after signing House Joint Resolution 41, which removes some Dodd-Frank regulations on oil and gas companies, during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017.SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2017 4:00 PM CUT [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4742212/donald-trump-twitter-democrats-book/ "undefined") is not the most unpopular [Republican](http://time.com/4728558/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-senate-confirmation-vote/ "undefined") in Washington, D.C. [House Speaker Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4621297/paul-ryan-speaker-of-the-house/ "undefined") has the president beat in that category. According to a new Pew Research study, 29% of Americans approve of Ryan’s performance, while 39% approve of Trump’s performance — a rating that has fluctuated since Trump took office, but has remained at [historically low levels](http://time.com/4637388/what-donald-trumps-approval-rating-means/ "undefined") for a new president. Ryan’s ratings are also a drop compared with those for House speakers before him. Rated at a similar time during his tenure, [former House Speaker John Boehner](http://time.com/4594332/john-boehner-presidential-election/ "undefined") had a 36% approval rating. [House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi](http://time.com/4688181/nancy-pelosi-jeff-sessions-russia-resign/ "undefined"), then-House speaker, had a 35% approval rating, and [former House speaker Newt Gingrich](http://time.com/4700494/newt-gingrich-congressional-budget-office-abolished/ "undefined") scored 43%. Democratic opposition to Ryan is also stronger than that for previous Republican House speakers. In fact, 75% of Democrats disapprove of Ryan’s job performance. Less than half of Democrats — 49% — disapproved of Boehner’s, and 61% disapproved of Gingrich’s. And Ryan still faces some opposition on his side of the aisle. Thirty-one percent of Republicans disapprove of Ryan’s performance, while more than 19% had disapproved of Boehner’s and 23% had disapproved of Gingrich’s. Ryan’s approval ratings come after Republican lawmakers’ [failed attempt](http://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/?iid=sr-link10 "undefined") to replace the Affordable Care Act. American voters blamed Ryan for the bill’s failure more than Trump, according to [a March poll from Public Policy Polling](http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/paul-ryan/ "undefined"). Ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January, Ryan was [re-elected](http://time.com/4621297/paul-ryan-speaker-of-the-house/ "undefined") to the top seat in the House by his colleagues. Consistent with previous years, the majority of Americans view Congress unfavorably, with only 34% approval, the study shows. Additionally, 52% of Americans said the Republican Party is “too extreme,” and 40% said the same for the Democratic Party. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4742454/paul-ryan-approval-rating-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4742454/paul-ryan-approval-rating-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan Has a Lower Approval Rating Than Donald Trump","datePublished":"2017-04-17T16:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:26:46.525Z","description":"House Speaker Paul Ryan's approval ratings are lower than President Trump's and the speaker's predecessor's","url":"https://time.com/4742454/paul-ryan-approval-rating-donald-trump/","keywords":["republicans","Congress","White House","Paul Ryan","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c8a47b4b53bf047/6988c31acd1bba77ca704c00/paul-ryan-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c8a47b4b53bf047/6988c31acd1bba77ca704c00/paul-ryan-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SIGNING","caption":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SIGNING","creditText":"SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images","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/republicans/","name":"republicans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4742454/paul-ryan-approval-rating-donald-trump/","name":"Paul Ryan Has a Lower Approval Rating Than Donald Trump"}}]}] ```