By Jeffrey A. Rendall
President Trump’s approval rating will carry a lot of weight in 2026
“All I want for Christmas is a few more points.”
As far as I know, there weren’t any secret microphones implanted into the walls of the White House or U.S. Capitol Building, nor were there listening devices or cameras stealthily placed in various GOP strongholds throughout the fifty states, but this is the type of plea that must’ve emanated from many a Republican’s mouth in the days leading up to Christmas.
For a new year that began so promisingly and spectacularly with the impending inauguration of Donald J. Trump beckoning from the not-so-far and conservatives across the nation anticipating bidding goodbye to senile Joe Biden and cackling Kamala Harris for hopefully the last time, the latter few months have been nothing but frustrating for the multitudes who’d hope that the country had maybe turned a corner and its citizens could breathe a little easier from here on out. At least in terms of desiring better government policy to serve as the backdrop to our lives, that is.
Yet the lengthy, nonsensical government shutdown and the 2025 elections seemed only to deepen our sense of gloom, the nightly news reports offering little promise that the aura of Donald J. Trump would spare the nation from a minor comeback by the leaderless and directionless Democrat party.
All Democrats have done was gripe and moan about how awful Trump is and spread lies and half-truths about what caused the government shutdown itself. Then there were liberals’ distortions regarding “affordability” that apparently swayed healthy majorities (in 2025’s voting jurisdictions) to elect an avowed socialist and provide Democrats a momentum boost heading into the all-too-crucial year of 2026.
But as Christmas approached, a bit of good tidings arrived, albeit little consolation for conservatives who’d endured week upon week of bad news from the reporting class. President Trump’s approval rating went up this month. Is this the beginning of a much-needed comeback?
In an article titled, “Trump approval rating rebounds after second-term low: DDHQ average”, Ashleigh Fields reported at The Hill last week:
“President Trump’s job approval rating has rebounded after a second-term low, according to new polling averages from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ). The president’s approval rating in the DDHQ average of polls stands at 44.8 percent, marking a 3.5 point increase from last month.
“As of [last week], his disapproval rating sits at 51.7 percent, per DDHQ. In mid-November, Trump’s disapproval peaked at 55.5 percent.
“Trump has been dealing with a number of issues in the last two months, most notably concerns about ‘affordability.’ The president visited Pennsylvania to talk up his efforts to boost the economy, a week after he argued that affordability was a ‘scam’ pushed by Democrats.”
Yes, President Trump speaks in shades of meaning at times, and I think what he meant to say was that what the Democrats spread (in terms of an affordability crisis) was a “scam”, and not the fact Americans were struggling to buy things long after senile Joe Biden had returned to Delaware to munch ice cream and do whatever it is he did when he wasn’t mumbling in front of a camera or shuffling off in the wrong stage direction after a speech.
It’s been a long time since Democrats controlled the levers of power – or it seems like it – yet they’re still around, doing their best to make every problem appear as though its origin was due to Trump.
But this latest approval ratings boost must’ve come as good news to the White House nonetheless, and just in time for Christmas to boot. The negative news cycles never cease, with establishment journalists having lost their anxiety of outright criticizing Trump for fear that a measurable slice of the electorate appreciated what the man could do even if they still weren’t wild about his bombastic personality.
The fact Trump’s approval rating has “rebounded” to the mid-forties is fairly remarkable in itself considering what’s happened during the fall and recently. Trump didn’t win many supporters with his comments after Hollywood director and personality Rob Reiner and his wife were brutally murdered in their own home, but perhaps people were willing to overlook a tasteless blip or two to acknowledge the big picture containing all of the good things Trump does every day.
Or maybe Americans had noticed how prices had finally fallen at the gas pump, providing a few extra dollars to purchase Christmas presents for the family when things didn’t look good.
By the same token, Republican House leaders must not have been pleased when the GOP caucus broke discipline and awarded Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a holiday gift of his own last week. There’s nothing like the prospect of extending Obamacare goodies to brighten the spirits of a spineless leftist-supporting Democrat frontman.
The Democrats’ intransigence on healthcare reforms virtually guarantees that nothing positive will pass anytime soon, so the current minority party will get its ultimate Christmas present spread throughout most (if not all) of next year, namely the ability to demagogue the healthcare issue and claim Republicans are to blame for the unfathomable cost of insurance!
Democrats would rather bankrupt the country than help consumers, but people aren’t informed enough as to the actual causes of the malaise to punish the perpetrators. Can’t they recognize it? Democrat voters see the government as a Santa Claus-type figure with a bottomless bag stuffed with subsidies and Medicaid eligibility when the people who pay for the excess are struggling to find the means themselves.
But President Trump did himself a favor when he changed his approach to the “affordability” issue, going out on the road to take the Republicans’ message directly to the people themselves as well as deliver a national address last week. Donald Trump doesn’t take vacations and it doesn’t look as though he takes days off, either, and the workaholic president’s efforts are being recognized by the citizenry — if this approval rate bump was any indication.
Political cycles are typically uneven, so it would make sense that Trump was due for a modicum of positive news heading into next year.
The Trump team has weathered the storm buoyed by the knowledge that the tax cuts from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” are bound to improve moods once folks assemble their tax returns in the coming months. Democrats will do their darndest to convince the gullible that the rate reductions or eliminations were “only for the rich/billionaires”, but it’s a hard point to sustain when wage earners see bigger paychecks from no more taxes on tips or overtime.
And lower income Social Security beneficiaries, too. Those extra dollars are going to make a big difference to a lot of people.
From what I’ve heard from the experts, gas bills should continue to go lower for at least a few months, showing the Trump Administration’s moves to slash energy prices will function as yet another “tax cut” to Americans who devote a sizable percentage of their monthly budget to gasoline and heating purchases.
Will food prices stabilize or go lower at the grocery store as well? Theoretically, if shippers pay less to transport their wares, retailers would be able to attract buyers by cutting prices. That’s an area I’m waiting to see. It will take a lot to counteract all of the inflationary practices from the past half decade.
Trump’s recent shift in approach does portend his strategy for 2026, which is to aggressively fire back at Democrats looking to pin the “affordability” issue to Republicans next year. Here’s thinking we won’t be hearing the term “affordability” as much next year and the establishment media will return to talking about “the economy and jobs” as they always did, even if the inflation rate is at or near the FED’s target rate and the unemployment figure is near full employment.
Sooner or later the foreign investment will start showing up in the economy and Trump’s tariff schemes will have been absorbed into the macro economy.
He’d never say and we’ll never know whether President Trump’s Christmas wish was for a few more points added to his approval rating for next year. Much depends on Trump’s ability to hold on to the people who back Republicans and hopefully add a few more. Will common sense prevail?
Merry Christmas!
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .