Is Trump doing a better or worse job than Biden? Here's what a new poll found

Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald on Aug 26, 2025

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A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump is outperforming his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, according to new polling.

In the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris survey, 54% of respondents said Trump is doing a better job than Biden, while 46% said he is doing worse.

The vast majority of Republicans, 90%, said Trump has outshined Biden, while 81% of Democrats disagreed. Independents were about evenly split — 51% versus 49% in Trump’s favor.

The survey comes seven months into Trump’s second term, a period marked by numerous policy changes, including a crackdown on illegal immigration, the imposition of tariffs on many foreign countries, and the passage of a sweeping spending bill, dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

However, while Trump eclipsed Biden on that issue, the poll revealed some warning signs that may pose difficulties for the president.

Conducted Aug. 20-21, the survey sampled 2,025 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Other key findings

A plurality of respondents, 43%, said that Trump is doing worse than they expected. Meanwhile, 31% said he is doing better, and 25% said he is performing about as expected.

Most Republicans, 55%, said he is doing better, while most Democrats, 70%, said the president is doing worse. A plurality of independents, 46%, also said he is doing worse.

Further, a plurality, 43%, said they believe Trump’s policies will make them financially worse off, while 33% said they will make them better off, and 23% said they’ll have little effect.

Even more strikingly, a majority of respondents, 55%, said that Trump’s policies will increase inflation. Just 29% said the president’s actions will decrease inflation, and 16% said they’ll have no impact.

When it came to foreign policy, many Americans were also pessimistic.

Nearly two-thirds, 64%, said Trump will not solve the Israel-Hamas war, while just 36% said they believe he will. Similarly, 59% said he will not solve the Ukraine-Russia war, while 41% said he will.

On the president’s handling of trade deals, Americans were about evenly divided.

Fifty percent of respondents said Trump is “making good deals on behalf of the country,” while the same share said he is “making bad deals just to appear successful.”

Additionally, 52% said they think the president will reach a trade deal with China, while 48% think he will not strike a deal.

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