--- description: Donald Trump cited a 50% approval rating, falsely claiming those number were higher than Barack Obama's title: President Trump Falsely Claims Higher Approval Ratings Than Obama image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0ee9d0e93331f4b/6988d22f7cdbac8475d58d4e/donald-trump-financial-disclosure-forms.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 Says He Has Higher Approval Ratings Than Obama. That’s Not True  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 18, 2017 2:21 PM CUT  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about policy changes he is making toward Cuba at the Manuel Artime Theater in the Little Havana neighborhood on June 16, 2017 in Miami, Florida. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about policy changes he is making toward Cuba at the Manuel Artime Theater in the Little Havana neighborhood on June 16, 2017 in Miami, Florida.Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 18, 2017 2:21 PM CUT [President Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4785127/michael-temer-nicolas-maduro-donald-trump/ "undefined")unleashed a series of tweets Sunday morning, touting a poll that showed him with a 50% approval rating, which he said was higher than his predecessor. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/876394578777174021) But that wasn’t all true. The [Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking poll](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public%5Fcontent/politics/political%5Fupdates/prez%5Ftrack%5Fjun16 "undefined") did show President Trump with a 50% approval rating on Friday, June 16 — the first time Trump had reached this high of an approval rating since April, the pollsters noted. But on June 16, 2009, [then-President Obama ](http://time.com/4792761/barack-obama-vacation-list/ "undefined")had a 56% approval rating [under the same poll.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public%5Fcontent/politics/obama%5Fadministration/obama%5Fapproval%5Findex%5Fhistory "undefined") And on June 18, 2009, Obama had a 55% approval rating. [Other polls](http://time.com/4756987/fox-news-poll-donald-trump-100-days-re-elect/?iid=sr-link5 "undefined") show Trump with much lower approval ratings than all of his predecessors, not just Barack Obama. As of June 13, the [Gallup daily tracking poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/201617/gallup-daily-trump-job-approval.aspx "undefined") showed that just 36% approve of the job Trump is doing as President, while 60% disapprove. The poll provides daily approval ratings dating back to Harry Truman, and Trump is the only President to hit a 60% disapproval rating within the first four-and-a-half months of his presidency. On Sunday, Trump also called Rasmussen “one of the most accurate polls” of the 2016 election, but they inaccurately predicted a [Clinton electoral college victory](http://%29http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public%5Fcontent/political%5Fcommentary/commentary%5Fby%5Flarry%5Fj%5Fsabato/our%5Ffinal%5F2016%5Fpicks "undefined") — as many polls did. In August 2016, [Rasmussen Reports](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/ "undefined") received a C+ overall from _FiveThirtyEight_‘s Nate Silver. Gallup received a B-. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4822956/donald-trump-tweets-rasmussen-poll-barack-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4822956/donald-trump-tweets-rasmussen-poll-barack-obama/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He Has Higher Approval Ratings Than Obama. 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