Is Donald Trump improving the US government?

This is a deeply contested political question that people disagree on based on their values and priorities, rather than something with a single factual answer. Let me find some current context to give you a balanced picture of what's happening and how different observers are assessing it.This is a question people genuinely disagree about depending on their political values and priorities — I can't give you a neutral "yes" or "no," but here's what the evidence shows from both sides of the debate as of October 2026.

Approval ratings and public perception

Trump's approval is historically weak for a sitting president. Trump's job approval rating – 34% as of mid-July – has changed little over the last few months, but it is lower than his rating at a comparable point in his first term – 40% in August 2018 – and those of most other recent presidents at similar stages. Tracking into the fall, as of October 8, 2026, Trump hit an all-time approval low of net -23.5, bouncing back slightly to -21.9. Notably, net approval of how he's handled trade and the economy are both at all-time lows. Even support within his own coalition has slipped — the decrease in Trump's approval ratings has primarily come from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, down from 84% in February 2025 to 69% by mid-2026.

The case that things are improving (supporters' view)

Backers point to concrete metrics: in 2025, violent crime fell almost 10%; murders dropped by 18%, and overdose deaths fell 14%, roughly 11,000 fewer families burying somebody in a single year. On energy and manufacturing, U.S. crude oil production reached approximately 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025, a record level, up roughly 350,000 barrels per day from the previous year. Border enforcement data is also cited: federal border officials reported extended periods of sharply reduced southwest border apprehensions, including 14 consecutive months with fewer than 9,000. Republican lawmakers frame this as a broad success — Sen. Marsha Blackburn said Trump "has ended the illegal alien invasion created by Joe Biden, unleashed American energy dominance, restored law and order, and advanced peace through strength," with "working families reaping the benefits of the largest tax cut in American history as inflation continues to fall."

The case that government is being damaged (critics' view)

On efficiency specifically, critics argue DOGE and related cuts caused disruption rather than improvement — one retrospective was headlined "The year Trump broke the federal government," describing how DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation's sprawling bureaucracy, with other year-end coverage citing "Chaos in governance, finance, education and trade". Fact-checkers have also repeatedly flagged exaggerated claims from the administration itself — for example, Trump claimed the U.S. had "secured a record-breaking $18 trillion in commitments for new investments," though the White House website showed a figure of $9.6 trillion, and experts cautioned that some of the $9.6 trillion in pledges may not come to fruition and others are unrealistically large compared to the GDP of countries involved. On the economy, polling shows just 29% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his job, with 30% approving in August, and economic sentiment is bleak, with 70% in September 2026 saying the economy will be worse a year from now.

Bottom line

The underlying facts are contested even among sympathetic analysts — one review noted "any honest review of Donald Trump's second term has to begin with the conditions that existed before his second-term policies had time to work," since he "did not return to office with inflation solved, household costs normalized, or public confidence fully restored." Whether specific changes (DOGE cuts, deregulation, tariffs, immigration enforcement, judicial appointments) count as "improvement" depends heavily on what you value — efficiency vs. institutional stability, deregulation vs. oversight, enforcement vs. due process. I'd encourage you to weigh the specific policy areas you care about most rather than look for a single verdict, since reasonable people are reaching very different conclusions from the same set of facts.