Presidential Approval by Generation

Julian Ramos
April 25, 2024

On average, presidential approval across generations is the lowest it has been in over a decade.

Source: Authors’ analysis using the Cumulative CES dataset 2006-2022.

Using cumulative data from the Cooperative Election Study (CES) we estimate retrospective evaluations of the economy across generational cohorts.

We find that:

Millennials consistently have more favorable approval of Democratic Presidents and disapprove of Republican Presidents.
Although Millennials and Gen Z have more favorable approval ratings of Biden than former president Trump, the gap in presidential approval between Millennials, Gen Z and older generations is the lowest it has been in the past decade.
For the Silent generation, former President Trump received more favorable presidential approval than George W. Bush at the end of his term.

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