Donald Trump’s nemesis, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, has registered the highest approval rating among current political leaders, a new poll has revealed.
A Gallup survey shows that Powell—whom Trump has long berated while demanding interest-rate cuts—is more highly regarded by Americans than the president, members of Trump’s Cabinet, and leading Democratic figures.
The poll shows Powell’s approval rating at 44 percent, compared with Trump’s second-term low of 36 percent. The president’s current approval is only slightly above his all-time low of 34 percent, recorded in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the only other political figure in the poll to break 40 percent, with an approval rating of 41 percent.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (28 percent) and Senate GOP Leader John Thune (34 percent) post the lowest ratings, with Vice President JD Vance (39 percent), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (36 percent), House Speaker Mike Johnson (35 percent), and embattled Attorney General Pam Bondi (36 percent) also registering uninspiring numbers.
Trump is likely to be particularly irritated by how Americans view Powell. The president has repeatedly called for Powell to resign—at times even suggesting he could fire him as chair of the U.S. central bank—while unleashing a steady stream of insults.
Trump has spent months attacking Powell as “stupid,” a “dummy,” and a “knucklehead” for refusing to slash interest rates to offset the president’s economically damaging tariff policies. The president was so blinded by rage at Powell’s refusal to bow to his demands that he appeared to have forgotten that it was he who appointed him in the first place.
“He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in July, despite nominating Powell in 2017.
That same month, the pair’s fractured relationship had an excruciating moment when Powell corrected Trump to his face after the president falsely claimed that renovation costs at the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters totaled $3.1 billion.
Trump suggested the figure had “just come out” when Powell questioned its source. After reviewing a piece of paper Trump handed him, Powell pushed back and explained that Trump was “adding a third building” to the total that “was built five years ago.”
“It’s part of the overall work,” Trump insisted, prompting Powell to reply again: “It’s not new.”
Powell, whose term as Fed chair ends in May 2026, has since cut interest rates three times this year as the central bank attempts to kick-start a struggling economy during Trump’s second term.
The most recent cut of 0.25 percentage points occurred on Dec. 10, lowering the benchmark rate to a range of 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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