Eighty-six percent of Republicans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing right now. That number isn't from a Trump super PAC or a friendly pollster. It's from CNN.
For context, both Barack Obama and George W. Bush sat at 77% with their own party at this exact point in their second terms. Trump is beating them by nine points — and CNN's own data analyst had to go on air and explain it.
"That is higher than either Obama or Bush had within their own party at this point," CNN's Harry Enten reported, before adding that "Trump's magic touch has not seemed to wear off yet." You could almost hear the resignation in the phrasing. The network that built an entire programming identity around opposing Donald Trump is now the network confirming he's more popular with his base than any president this century.
The numbers extend beyond the party faithful. A Daily Mail/JL Partners survey conducted June 19-21 puts Trump's overall approval at 47% — up from a low of 42% in mid-March and a steady 43% over the previous three months. Among Hispanic voters, approval sits at 45% against 41% disapproval. Among Black voters, 38% approve — a number that would have been unthinkable for a Republican president a decade ago.
JL Partners founder James Johnson pointed to a specific catalyst. "President Trump appears to have got a direct approval bump from the Iran deal, putting him on his second-highest rating of the year so far," Johnson said. "That makes sense, given we know voters see a clear link between gas prices and the Iran conflict being open."
The gas price connection is measurable. Prices have fallen from $4.52 to $3.93 per gallon as the four-month standoff with Iran moved toward resolution. Trump himself noted on Truth Social that "19 millions barrels of oil flowed out of the Hormuz Strait yesterday, an all time record," adding that "oil prices are tumbling down, and the world is a much safer place."
Independents remain skeptical — 38% approval against 52% disapproval — and the overall disapproval number still sits at 53%. Those are the figures CNN would normally lead with. But the story here isn't the gap between approval and disapproval. It's the trajectory. A president who bottomed out at 42% in mid-March is now at 47% and climbing, buoyed by falling gas prices, a ceasefire extension with Iran, and a stretch that included the G7 summit in France, a UFC event at the White House, and the America 250 celebrations.
The May poll had 59% of respondents saying the economy was getting worse. One month later, approval is surging anyway. That suggests voters are crediting Trump for the direction of travel, not the current snapshot — exactly the kind of forward-looking confidence that drove his 2024 victory.
This is the polling environment heading into the 2026 midterms. The opposition spent six years and billions of dollars trying to make this man unpopular. CNN's own numbers say it didn't work.
The network that called him a threat to democracy now has to report that more Americans support him than supported Obama. Somewhere in Atlanta, a graphics department is having a very long week.