# Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 11, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595 "2026-02-11T22:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/21 "2026-02-12T00:11:22Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Well, it just clears the path for all of Gallup’s competitors to run presidential approval polls. There are, honestly, a bunch of political polling companies already out there, many of whom already do polls on “presidential approval,” and many of which regularly release the results of their polls. Some are likely more biased than others. Gallup has name recognition, which may or may not translate to actual _accuracy_ these days. And, frankly, knowing what I know about survey research and methodological issues, I have a hard time putting a lot of stock in _any_ political polls today. The distressing part about this news isn’t that Gallup is leaving an unfillable void (IMO, they aren’t), so much as it’s pretty effing evident to me that they are doing this because of political pressure. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But they never got mentioned as much as Gallup. Gallup somehow became the household name for polling. IMO, at least part of this is that Gallup was _really good_ at PR, and getting their name and poll results out there. Yes, they’re a household name, but that may or may not mean that their polling data is actually the gold standard. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/22 "2026-02-12T00:12:33Z")
I think you are all overrating Gallup. There are many other polling organizations out there. As I mentioned upthread, CNN reports a poll of polls which includes numerous organizations (including Fox News, whose numbers lean slightly in favor of Trump but not outrageously so). See list here: > **[President Trump’s approval ratings | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/polling/approval/trump-polls)** > > President Donald Trump’s latest approval ratings. Gallup has name recognition, much of which is from their polling-for-hire in market research. They haven’t been the sole arbiter for political polling for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/23 "2026-02-12T00:14:15Z")
The last two Gallup polls had Trump at 36%, and that was before the murders in Minneapolis and the latest Epstein dump. I suspect they’re likely sitting on data that has Trump’s rating in the 20s. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/24 "2026-02-12T00:32:42Z")
The only way you can judge a political polling operation is for them to poll the horse race shortly before elections. Then we can compare the poll to actual, and see how good they are. Gallup last did this in 2012. So we have no way to know how skillful of a pollster they are lately. So loss of their approval numbers isn’t a serious blow to our abilities as amateur pundits. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/25 "2026-02-12T00:35:15Z")
I didn’t see it posted upthread, so … even Gallup wasn’t sugar coating it (as much as usual). Look at the trend line in the first graph: > **[Presidential Approval Ratings — Donald Trump](https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx)** > > Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? I’d have to characterize that line as going “down, dooby-doo, down-down.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/26 "2026-02-12T00:54:26Z")
I was reading the comments on the article in _The Hill_ linked to in the OP, and saw a comment posted (quoted below). I can’t verify if this guy’s information is accurate, but it would surely help explain “why.” > [@](#): > > What’s more suggestive than personal ties is the business angle. Gallup has a significant federal consulting business, partnering with federal agencies on workforce engagement, leadership development, and management solutions for over 30 years Gallup. Their revenue is roughly $493 million, and government consulting is a meaningful slice of that. This matters because the Trump administration, through DOGE, has been aggressively reviewing and canceling federal consulting contracts — cutting billions from firms like Deloitte, Accenture, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Gallup had already paid a $10.5 million settlement in 2013 for allegedly overstating labor hours on U.S. Mint and State Department contracts Wikipedia — a history that could make them especially sensitive to federal scrutiny. > > There’s also relevant precedent: while Trump has made no public threat to Gallup specifically, he has threatened other pollsters — suing the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer in December 2024 over an Iowa poll, and attacking the New York Times over unfavorable polling The New Republic. > > Gallup is vulnerable as a consulting firm with significant federal government business, operating in an environment where the administration is aggressively cutting contracts and has a documented pattern of retaliating against unfavorable pollsters. The decision to stop publishing the data that most consistently embarrassed the president, at a moment when that data was historically bad, naturally invites skepticism about the stated rationale of a benign “strategic evolution.” > > I’m sure warning shots were fired incognito. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/27 "2026-02-12T01:01:40Z")
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how democracy dies. One pillar at a time is shot in the back of the head with a silenced pistol until the whole edifice collapses in a cloud of dust & dead bodies. This is the same basic story as Bezos and WaPo. The only uncertainty in my book is whether Bezos did what he did to WaPo to avoid trumply retaliation or to curry trumply favor. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/28 "2026-02-12T09:38:00Z")
Growing up, I’d always heard conservatives talk about the “liberal media” as some big Goliath-like or video-game-boss nemesis. Turns out all the ‘liberal media’ needed was a weak threat or two and it folded like a lawn chair. WashPo, Gallup, CBS, CNN, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/29 "2026-02-12T09:59:14Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Turns out all the ‘liberal media’ needed was a weak threat or two and it folded like a lawn chair. WashPo, Gallup, CBS, CNN, etc. Try foreign media. Canada’s CBC, Global, or CTV, the BBC, Australia’s ABC, and so on. There are others, of course, but these days, with the Internet, you need not be fed American media if you do not want it. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/30 "2026-02-12T13:46:35Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I’d have to characterize that line as going “down, dooby-doo, down-down.” Compared to first year polling of Macron and Starmer, Trump’s decline in polling averages has been slow. It seems to me wishful thinking to cherry-pick one pollster that came closer than most to showing what we hope to be happening. Gallup did not have, since 2016, the quality control of letting us compare pre-election horse race polls with actual election results. I like to take an international perspective. As media freedom declines under a hybrid or dictatorial regime, one type of media that usually remains free the longest is polling. Consider: > **[How Authentic is Putin’s Approval Rating?](https://carnegie.ru/commentary/60849)** > > If you look at the entire 15 years that Putin has been in power, rather than just the last year and a half, you can see that this is the fourth time his popularity has soared this high. Furthermore, there are simultaneous changes in various... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/31 "2026-02-12T14:17:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Growing up, I’d always heard conservatives talk about the “liberal media” as some big Goliath-like or video-game-boss nemesis. Turns out all the ‘liberal media’ needed was a weak threat or two and it folded like a lawn chair. WashPo, Gallup, CBS, CNN, etc. Conservatives are having a harder time silencing the reality that those media were reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/32 "2026-02-12T19:29:54Z")
Maybe Gallup finally read Darrell Huff’s “How To…” book. (Google it) Or: [Darrell Huff - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Huff) ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/33 "2026-02-12T20:48:16Z")
Ever since el donald started, the polls have been off about the presidential election. IMHO, it’s because racists lie to pollsters. The first time we saw this was in the 1968 race for mayor of Los Angeles. Tom Bradley was the first African-American candidate for that position. He was ahead by a few percent in the polls but lost the election by a few percent. He lost that time but, won the next. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/34 "2026-02-12T20:55:14Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > IMHO, it’s because racists lie to pollsters. The concept of “shy Trump voters” has been discussed among pollsters for years, in fact. It does seem likely that there are _some_ people who support Trump’s policies – including racist policies – but are unwilling to admit it, or admit their intent to vote for him, to a third party. Even if that’s a fairly small minority of Trump’s support, it seems like it may be enough to throw off the polls. OTOH, there are also a lot of people (including, no doubt, racists) who feel no such shame, as one can see from any polling result from the last decade, and the percentage of respondents who strongly approve of the guy and his policies. If anything, the openness which Trump and his acolytes have shown in being unrepentantly hateful and divisive has made those folks feel empowered to crawl out from under their rocks and let their freak flags fly. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/35 "2026-02-12T21:05:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > OTOH, there are also a lot of people (including, no doubt, racists) who feel no such shame It only takes about 10% of the people they ask to swing the difference from +5 to -5. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/36 "2026-02-12T21:08:16Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > It only takes about 10% of the people they ask to swing the difference from +5 to -5 For the record, I am _not_ disagreeing with you. You said: > [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > IMHO, it’s because racists lie to pollsters. To which I noted, “yes, evidence shows that there are likely _ **some** _ racists who lie to pollsters.” Trump’s general polling numbers for the last 11 years, and support for his specific policies in polls, shows that there is a distressingly large number of Americans who are unashamedly open about being hate-filled, racist people – and that number is apparently even larger than the covert racists. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/37 "2026-02-12T23:33:11Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > It only takes about 10% of the people they ask to swing the difference from +5 to -5. True, although the national polling averages were never off by even half of that. In November 2024, [Nate Silver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_opinion_polling_for_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election) had Harris up in the national popular vote by 1.0%, while Trump lost by 1.5%. In [November 2020](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_opinion_polling_for_the_2020_United_States_presidential_election), he (via [FiveThirtyEight.com](http://FiveThirtyEight.com)) had Biden up by 8.4% while Biden’s actual margin was 4.5%. And in [November 2016](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_opinion_polling_for_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election), Silver/538 had Clinton up by 3.9% while her actual popular vote margin was 2.1%. These are fairly normal polling errors, albeit all three in the same direction. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595/38 "2026-02-14T05:28:31Z")
James Carville’s reaction. It’s worth a complete watch, but you get the gist of it in the first sentence of the video. Or, well, in the title. > **[James Carville: Gallup, Go F\*ck Yourself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeTCpvJ3GB0%2F)** > > James Carville reacts in real time to the news that Gallup Polling will not longer report presidential polls [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gallup-will-no-longer-measure-presidential-approval-after-88-years/1027595.md?page=1)