An approval rating measures how people judge an officeholder’s performance in the job. A favorability rating measures how people feel about a person overall. Approval only applies to someone who holds an office; favorability can be asked about anyone, including challengers, former officials, parties and institutions. The two numbers are usually close for a sitting president, but they can split, and when they do it tells you something.
News coverage often uses the terms interchangeably. They come from different questions, so comparing one to the other can mislead you.
What question produces an approval rating? #
The standard wording dates to Gallup’s early presidential polling in the 1930s:
“Do you approve or disapprove of the way [name] is handling his job as president?”
Most pollsters use close variations, sometimes adding “strongly” and “somewhat” categories that get combined when the headline number is reported. The same format is used for governors, mayors and Congress as an institution. Respondents who don’t pick either side are counted as unsure or no opinion.
Gallup, whose monthly number was the best-known approval series for decades, said in 2026 that it would stop publishing approval and favorability ratings of political figures, citing how widely they’re now produced and averaged. Dozens of other pollsters still ask the question, and averages combine them. We explain how in how presidential approval ratings are calculated.
What question produces a favorability rating? #
A typical version reads:
“Please tell me whether you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of [name], or if you have never heard of them.”
The “never heard of” option is the important difference. For a sitting president almost nobody picks it, but for a new candidate, a cabinet member or a senator from another state, a large share may. That makes favorability questions a way to measure name recognition as well as sentiment.
Favorability vs. approval at a glance #
| Job approval | Favorability | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Performance in a specific office | Overall opinion of the person or group |
| Who can be rated | Current officeholders only | Anyone: candidates, parties, institutions, former officials |
| “Never heard of” option | Rarely offered | Standard |
| Moves with | Events, the economy, crises, legislation | Character, biography, partisanship, familiarity |
| Most useful for | Judging an incumbent’s standing | Sizing up candidates and name recognition |
Why do approval and favorability split? #
For most modern presidents the two track closely, because partisanship drives both. Voters who like a president’s party tend to approve of the job and view the person favorably, and the opposite holds for the other party. When they diverge, it’s usually because people are separating the person from the results.
Approval higher than personal ratings. Bill Clinton is the textbook case. In December 1998, the week the House impeached him, Gallup measured his job approval at 73%, the highest of his presidency. At the same time, polls showed his personal ratings, such as whether Americans saw him as honest and trustworthy, had fallen sharply. The economy was strong, and many voters kept approving of the job while disapproving of the man.
Personal ratings higher than approval. Jimmy Carter is often cited for the reverse. Many Americans saw him as decent and honest even as inflation, energy shortages and the Iran hostage crisis drove his job approval to the low end of any modern president’s.
These splits have become rarer as partisanship hardened. When one opens up now, it’s often a sign that a group of voters, usually independents or members of the president’s own party, is starting to move.
How do you read the two numbers? #
Use net scores #
The net number is the positive share minus the negative share. It’s a better summary than either piece alone.
- Net approval = approve minus disapprove
- Net favorability = favorable minus unfavorable
A politician at 45% approve and 40% disapprove (net +5) is in better shape than one at 48% approve and 50% disapprove (net −2), even though the second has the higher approval figure.
Watch the “don’t know” share #
A candidate with 30% favorable, 25% unfavorable and 45% who haven’t heard of them has room to grow in either direction. A candidate at 45-50 with only 5% unsure has a hardened image that’s hard to change.
Don’t compare across questions or pollsters #
Approval from one pollster and favorability from another aren’t comparable. Neither are polls of different populations, since registered voters and likely voters can give different numbers. Our guide to registered vs. likely voters explains why.
Trust the trend over the single poll #
One poll can land a few points off. The direction of an average over several weeks tells you much more than any single release.
Which one matters more in an election? #
For an incumbent, job approval. A president’s approval is one of the better signals of how the president’s party will do, which is part of why the president’s party usually loses seats in midterms. Presidents running for re-election with approval near or above 50% have generally won, while those well below 45% have struggled.
For challengers and open-seat candidates, favorability matters more, because they have no job to approve of. Campaigns watch a candidate’s unfavorable number closely: once most voters know a candidate and a majority dislike them, it’s hard to win swing voters back.
Where can you follow approval? #
Election Tracker tracks presidential job approval, not favorability. Its Approval tab shows approve, disapprove and the net number as a 7-day average of every published poll, so one pollster’s unusual week doesn’t swing the headline, with a 30- or 90-day chart and the individual polls underneath, each with its sample and dates. It’s free on iPhone and doesn’t need an account. For more on following the number over time, see how to track and read presidential approval ratings.
Frequently asked questions #
Can a politician have high approval and low favorability? #
Yes. Voters can approve of how someone is doing the job, often because of a strong economy or a popular decision, while disliking them personally. Bill Clinton in 1998 is the best-known example.
Do candidates have approval ratings? #
Not unless they currently hold an office. A challenger has no job to approve of, so pollsters measure favorability instead. A sitting official running for another office can have both.
What is a good approval rating for a president? #
In the current polarized era, presidents rarely stay above 50% for long. Net approval, approve minus disapprove, is a more useful yardstick: positive is good footing, and double-digit negative territory has usually meant trouble for the president’s party in elections.
Why do polls ask about parties’ favorability? #
Parties don’t hold an office, so there’s no job to approve of. Favorability shows how the public sees each party’s brand, which can differ from how people plan to vote. For voting intentions, pollsters use the generic congressional ballot instead.
Is approval or favorability a better predictor of re-election? #
Job approval, for incumbents. It reflects how voters judge the results they’ve seen, which is closer to the choice they make at the ballot box.