House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s not alarmed by recent dismal polling numbers for President Trump and believes they’re a symptom of an administration making seismic changes in Washington.
A slew of polls released over the weekend found that Mr. Trump’s support among voters cratered during his first 100 days in office, with concerns rising over his handling of the economy, tariffs and foreign affairs.
However, Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said during his weekly press conference that any new administration is like a “roller coaster.”
“When you come in and make dramatic change, which is what he did, he’s delivering on the promises made,” he said. “There’s some bumps along the road where, I mean, we’re changing everything.”
The string of polls from CNN, CBS/YouGov, The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos showed that the president’s job approval rating dipped since he took office. The Post’s poll, in particular, found that Mr. Trump had the worst approval rating, 39%, of any president during his first 100 days.
Voters who responded to the surveys were concerned with hallmarks of Mr. Trump’s blistering pace, which has seen him sign over 140 executive orders, usher in widespread tariffs and seek to gut federal agencies based on recommendations from his Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr. Johnson argued that the president had to fix “every area of public policy” following the previous administration, but acknowledged that “people, they have an emotional reaction sometimes for the big changes.”
“But what they’re seeing, and what the real polling is showing, is that they understand that we’re headed somewhere,” he said.
“There’s been a little question and concern about, you know, the rocky start, some of the stock markets, some of the tariff policy and all that,” he continued. “But right now, even today, people are beginning to see the dust settle on that they understand there was a master strategy behind this, and they’re seeing the results.”
Mr. Trump on Tuesday was expected to sign an executive order that would provide some relief for his auto tariffs, which could further sate concerns over the levies’ economic impact.
The day before, the president rebuked the negative polling, contending that the surveys were fake and that the media organizations that produced them were “truly the enemy of the American people.”
He also noted that, per his pollster John McLaughlin, Trump voters were underrepresented in the surveys.
Trump voters represented a third of respondents from the New York Times and Washington Post polls. While voters more broadly are concerned about the president’s performance early on, his base largely backs his handling of the economy, tariffs, foreign relationships and immigration.
