This week's Sunday shows were certainly noteworthy, as Townhall has been covering. Leftist hosts put their biases on full display, especially all day on CBS News. Of course, these shows all include particularly liberal guests, but just as a broken clock can be right twice a day, sometimes the hosts, even the leftist ones, allow the truth to slip out when confronting such guests. That's just what happened when Jonathan Karl, on ABC News' "This Week" questioned House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about President Donald Trump's favorability ratings.
Trump has experienced his highest approval and favorablility ratings. He's been in office for just under a month, and last week CNN's Harry Enten highlighted how Trump had just 11 days during his first term when his approval rating was above water. He's already exceeded that in the first few weeks of his second term. Plenty of polls show Trump to have above water approval ratings, though Democrats naturally desperately try to spin that.
When confronted with Trump's performance, however, Jeffries wasn't exactly able to come up with the best response. It was actually one of Jeffries' responses to a broad question from Karl that prompted the host to bring this up.
As Karl asked, "More broadly, we’re in four weeks in this second Trump administration, what of all of that we’ve seen play out over these four weeks most concerns you?"
"Well, Donald Trump and Republicans consistently promised that they were going to lower the high cost of living, and they’ve done the exact opposite. They’ve shown no interest in lowering costs in the United States of America, which are too high. Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Childcare costs are too high. Utility costs are too high. The cost of living is too high in the United States of America," Jeffries ranted, going for a line we've heard from the top Democrats and others since the start of Trump's administration. "This country is too expensive. But they’ve broken their promise. They have no interest in improving the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers."
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It turns out that Americans have President Joe Biden to thank for high costs, which he's saddled the new Trump administration with. When it comes to the price of eggs which Jeffries likes to harp on in particular, remember it was the Biden-Harris administration that ordered chickens to be killed due to concerns with Bird Flu, leading to a shortage.
"Instead, what they’re trying to do, while they distract the American people, is to jam the GOP tax scam down the throats of people all across this country, all in service of massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations. It’s a toxic bait and switch that is underway, and we will continue to push back forcefully," Jeffries continued, though their attempts to "push back forcefully" in the minority have been laughable.
“The core promise that Donald Trump made is that he’s going to lower costs ... We were told that grocery prices would go down on day one, on Jan. 20. Costs aren’t lower. In fact, costs are increasing," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says. https://t.co/KsRbO7G2xp pic.twitter.com/NsTtj6FLi9
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 16, 2025
That's when Karl chimed in with those Trump favorability ratings. "But Donald Trump’s favorability rating is actually higher than it ever was the first time around," he pointed out, going on to reference a recent Marquette poll, which also looked to Trump's plans. They're certainly popular ideas, especially when it comes to illegal immigration, which Trump made his top issue. It's why commentators like Scott Jennings and Mary Katharine Ham refer to Trump as the "80/20 president."
As Karl listed off, "63 percent favor the federal government’s recognition of only two sexes, 60 percent favor deporting immigrants who entered the United States illegally, 60 percent favor expanding oil and gas production, 59 percent favor declaring an emergency at the southern border."
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the federal government indeed recognizes there are only two sexes. As mentioned, other polls have also shown support for deporting illegal immigrants. When it comes to the emergency at the southern border, it's worth reminding that Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office putting an end to such emergency.
As Matt also pointed out when covering the support for mass deportations from last month's poll, Marquette is one of the more liberal polls.
Speaking about these popular issues, Karl asked Jeffries, "is there anything you are seeing that Trump is doing that you are in favor of, that you think is the right thing?"
The top Democrat skirted around the issue, though, and instead kept going back to his original talking point. "Let me say, as it relates to all of those issues, we’re just at the beginning. And the core promise that Donald Trump made is that he’s going to lower costs for everyday Americans. In fact, we were told that grocery prices would go down on day one, on January 20th," he insisted. "Costs aren’t lower. In fact, costs are increasing. The price of eggs is skyrocketing out of control. Inflation is on the way up. That was the core promise that’s been broken."
Only after repeating his narrative did Jeffries get to one of the issues that Karl brought up, which is immigration. "With respect to immigration — listen, we have to secure the border," he offered, despite how Democrats refused to do so during the previous administration, which actually saw record high encounters thanks to the Biden-Harris administration's open borders. "We have a broken immigration system and we need to fix it in a comprehensive and bipartisan way, at the same period of time as Democrats, we’re going to protect dreamers, protect farm workers, and protect families who help our communities across the country thrive," he continued.
🚨Hakeem Jeffries left grasping for a response after ABC's Jon Karl reads off massive favorability numbers for Trump:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 16, 2025
“Donald Trump's favorability rating is HIGHER than it ever was the first time around.”
63% favor govt recognizing only two sexes
60% favor deporting illegals… pic.twitter.com/cnWEWOZlpA
Karl seemed to be on somewhat of a role here, as he also brought up how Democrats are in disarray with their lack of leadership, though this could pertain to just about anything to do with the Democratic Party.
"I'm sure you saw Speaker of the House Johnson say the Democratic Party has no leader right now. You might expect it from him to say something like that, but your colleague, Don Beyer, a big supporter of yours in the House, basically said that the same thing," Karl pointed out. Quoting Beyer, a liberal Democrat from northern Virginia, he continued, "He said, 'We’re still looking for that national spokesperson. And it could be that Hakeem,' you, 'becomes that national voice. It hasn’t happened yet.'"
"So, are you effectively the leader of the Democratic Party nationally right now, the main spokesperson," Karl went on to ask. He was likely referring to an Axios article from last week that Beyer was quoted in, "Inside Democrats' growing tension with their grassroots," which again, highlights all sorts of further problems for the party that is in the toilet with the American people when it comes to their favorable ratings.
A Quinnipiac University poll from last last month showed the Democratic Party is at a 57-31 percent unfavorable rating among Americans, while a Cygnal poll from last week showed a 54-40 percent unfavorable rating among likely 2026 general election voters, which certainly spells issues for the upcoming midterms.
"It’s my honor to be House Democratic leader, and we’re going to continue to work together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity. We’ve got to fight in the courts, push back in the Congress, and continue to push back in the community," Jeffries continued, going for the same narratives we've heard before from him, as if there was any doubt this is what he'd rely on.
He still further continued his talking points, adding, "and as House Democrats, we’re doing just that, particularly as it relates to their efforts to not only jam these massive tax cuts down the throats of the American people for the wealthy, well-off and well connected, but they want to stick working class Americans, middle class Americans and everyday Americans with the bill by effectively ending healthcare as we know it, hurting children, hurting women, hurting people with disabilities, hurting older Americans, hurting everyday Americans by slashing and burning Medicaid to the ground, effectively trying to jam up the Affordable Care Act, and they’re going to target Social Security and Medicare. We’re pushing back forcefully against those efforts every day, every week, every month, every year, and that will continue."
“It’s my honor to be House Democratic leader and we’re going to continue to work together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says. https://t.co/qr4sNYajUn pic.twitter.com/4DwNdUpo3K
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 16, 2025
Good look with that "pushing back." We'll see how November 2026 turns out.
As for favorable ratings, 538 shows Trump with a favorable rating above water, at 48 percent. His approval rating is even better, at 49 percent. RealClearPolling similarly shows Trump's approval rating at 48.7 percent.
Biden stands in stark contrast, as he's viewed the least favorably among all five presidents still alive, according to a Gallup poll from last week. He also saw his ratings fall so far so fast from the start of his term to less than a year later. By the end of his term, he had a particularly low approval rating, including among his fellow Democrats, with Gallup also speaking to his low approval ratings shortly before the 46th president left office.
