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President Trump's Approvals Return to Early 2017 Highs

President Donald Trump, charged by the U.S. House of Representatives with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, is currently being tried in the U.S. Senate. No less, the "Teflon Don" is enjoying a noticeable approval-rating bump.

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President Donald Trump (TIME)

According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, the president's approval rating is 45.5%, with 51.7% disapproving. This is Trump's best result since February 5, 2017, a few weeks into his presidential term, and it is just six-tenths of a point shy of former President Barack Obama's approval rating on January 26, 2012: 46.1%. Obama went on to win reelection with a majority of the popular vote on Election Day 2012.

The FiveThirtyEight polling aggregation shares a similar story. Among likely or registered voters, the president's approval rating is 44.8%, with 51.8% disapproving. This is Trump's best result since March 2017.

Support for the president's economic policies has also surged. The RealClearPolitics average shows that 55.1% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance with regards to the economy, with just 39.5% disapproving. One poll -- Harvard-Harris -- pegs the approval number at a stratospheric 60%, and no survey shows him below 50%.

On foreign policy, the president's approvals are far more tepid. RealClearPolitics shows that 43.0% of Americans approve of his job performance with regards to international affairs, with a majority -- 52.3% -- disapproving. However, Trump's foreign-policy deficit -- 9.3 points -- is bested by his positive spread on economics, +15.6.

Though it is early, the 2020 head-to-head matchups are a mixed bag for Trump. According to the RealClearPolitics polling averages, former Vice President Joe Biden leads Trump by 4.3 points, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) by 3.2, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) by 1.4, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 0.4, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg by 3.2.

Granted, the president does not need to win the national popular vote to win reelection. Last time around, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton netted nearly three million more popular votes than Trump; he beat her in the Electoral College by a vote of 304 to 227.

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