President Donald Trump announced Sept. 12 that he would send the National Guard to Memphis next in his crime crackdown.

Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C., in the beginning of August, saying it was necessary to tamp down crime even though crime was already down this year. He has special authority to deploy the Guard in D.C., as opposed to the states where the governors usually oversee deployment.

Over the following weeks, he toyed with sending troops to Chicago, which he painted as a "hell hole" riddled with crime. But he stopped short as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker strongly opposed the idea of deployment. Instead, Trump said Tennessee's governor welcomed the help.

"The mayor is happy ... the governor is happy," Trump said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "Deeply troubled, we're gonna fix that just like we did Washington. I would have preferred going to Chicago."

What states give Trump the highest approval rating?

Trump receives a positive approval rating in 25 states, according to Morning Consult, which gathers polls over the course of three months to get a look at state-level data among registered voters. The Sept. 5 update has two fewer states with net positive approval ratings than the Morning Consult report in August. North Carolina and Nevada are the two states that have flipped to giving Trump a net-negative approval rating since last month's update.

Georgia is the only 2024 swing state where he has a positive approval rating, according to Morning Consult, which also finds it breaks even in Arizona.

In Tennessee, where Trump says he will deploy the National Guard next, 58% of voters approve of his job performance, compared to 38% who disapprove, his sixth-best rating among the states, according to Morning Consult. In Illinois, 41% of voters approve of his job performance and 55% of voters disapprove, his 11th-worst state, Morning Consult found.

Morning Consult's overall approval rating poll for Trump from surveys of 2,201 registered U.S. voters from Sept. 6-8 found 45% of voters approve of Trump's job performance compared to 52% who disapprove.

What is Trump's approval overall?

RealClearPolitics Poll Average shows Trump's approval rating was becoming more negative throughout the first few weeks of July before buoying toward the end of the month and staying fairly steady over the last month. Aggregated polls by the New York Times show a similar trend.

As of Jan. 27, Trump received a +6.2 percentage point approval rating, but as of March 13, it flipped to slightly negative, the RealClearPolitics graphics show. The approval rating reached its most negative on April 29 at -7.2 percentage points, which fell around Trump's 100-day mark. It came close to that low again on July 22 and 23 at -7.1 percentage points, as the controversy over Jeffrey Epstein carried into its third week.

His average approval rating margin as of Sept. 12, according to RealClearPolitics, is -5.5 percentage points. The approval margin according to the New York Times aggregator on Sept. 12 is -8 percentage points.

Trump's approval rating is low compared to other presidents

A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump's approval ratings in August of his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th president − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations.

In a Gallup poll conducted from Aug. 1-20, 40% approved of Trump's job performance. Here is how that compares to other presidents in August of their first year of their term, according to Gallup:

  • Joe Biden (August 2021) - 49% approve
  • Trump (August 2017) - 36% approve
  • Barack Obama (August 2009) - 53% approve
  • George W. Bush (August 2001) - 56% approve
  • Bill Clinton (August 1993) - 44% approve
  • George H.W. Bush (August 1989) - 69% approve
  • Ronald Reagan (August 1981) - 60% approve

Contributing: Joey Garrison, Davis Winkie, USA TODAY

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Trump’s approval rating? See how it compares across states

Reporting by Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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