Amid impeachment, Trump's approval rating climbs to highest levels of his presidency

House Democrats thought that by impeaching President Donald Trump it would impair him heading into 2020—and they may come to regret their decision.

According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, the nation's 45th commander in chief has achieved the highest approval ratings of his presidency, even under impeachment. The Post reports that 44 percent of American adults approve of the job that Trump is doing in office, a significant improvement from his 38 percent rating in late October.

Among registered voters, Trump's rating climbs to 47 percent in the same survey.

Part of a trend?

The Post's survey showing an improvement in Trump's approval rating is one of three recent polls showing similar marks for the president.

An Emerson study released this week also found that 47 percent of Trump. Similarly, a Rasmussen study pinned Trump's approval rating at 49 percent, within the margin range of the Emerson and Washington Post/ABC surveys.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Gallup released the results of its quarterly snapshot of Americans' evaluation of Trump's performance. In its analysis, Gallup found that during the last quarter of 2019, while Democrats were investigating and impeaching the president, Trump's approval rating averaged 43.3 percent—the highest of his first term.

"Overall, Trump averaged 42% job approval during his third year in office, an improvement over his 38% first-year and 40% second-year averages," the polling firm said.

Consistent with Obama and Reagan

Gallup also noted that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Trump's approval ratings are consistent with those of some of his predecessors.

"Trump's third-year average is not far behind Obama's 44.5% or Reagan's 44.9% averages at the same point in their presidencies," Gallup's researchers added. Both presidents went on to win re-election.

Gallup

What's driving Trump's poll bump?

The polling data suggest that Trump's growing popularity is largely driven by voters' confidence in the economy.

According to the Washington Post, a 56 percent majority of U.S. adults approves of Trump's handling of the economy, a 10-percentage point improvement from September and his strongest rating yet on his signature issue. Among registered voters, approval of Trump's management of the economy is even higher at 58 percent.

In the same nationwide survey, nearly half of Americans (49 percent) said that senators should not remove the president from office while 47 percent said they should. The margin widened in Trump's favor among registered voters where a majority (51 percent) told pollsters they oppose Trump's removal, while 45 percent support it.

The Washington Post-ABC poll was conducted by telephone on Monday through Thursday among a randomly selected national sample of 1,004 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.