Despite the ongoing impeachment proceedings, President Donald Trump’s approval rating hit a record high.
A new Gallup poll found that Trump received the highest approval rating of his presidency during the last week of January, with 49% of respondents saying they approve of his job performance.
At this point in former President Barack Obama’s first term, 45% of respondents say they approved of his job performance, and 55% said the same of former President George W. Bush.
Additionally, Gallup found that the respondents’ view of the Republican Party improved with 51% of respondents saying they have a favorable view of the party — the first time since 2005 it was over 50%.
Gallup notes that if the bump in Trump’s approval rating is “driven by impeachment,” it’s likely that his approval rating will tick back down over the coming months.
However, if it is driven by Americans crediting him for the state of the economy, that number may improve over the year. Gallup writes:
“His support may increase over the course of the year, as it did for Ronald Reagan in 1984, Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2012. All of those recent presidents held office during periods of sustained economic improvement and were re-elected with job approval ratings of better than 50%.”
The poll also found that 50% of respondents say they believe Trump deserves re-election, up from 41% just before the 2018 mid-term election.
The new Gallup poll comes after an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 46% of respondents say they approve of Trump’s job performance, and a record number of respondents said they strongly approve of his performance.
Trump was accused of withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to pressure officials there to investigate his political rivals. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The House passed two articles of impeachment — one for abuse of power and another for obstruction of Congress — after lawmakers launched an impeachment inquiry to investigate the allegations.
In recent weeks, support for impeachment has ticked up slightly, but Trump’s approval rating has remained relatively steady.
