As President Donald Trump approaches the 100-day milestone of his second term, new polling data from NBC News reveals how he has solidified the Republican Party’s alignment, not only around himself but also around his extensive “Make America Great Again” initiative.
In March’s NBC News poll, thirty-six percent of registered voters identified as MAGA supporters. This marks a notable rise from previous NBC polling—up from 23% in a combined sample of all NBC polling in 2023 and 27% in a combined sample from NBC’s 2024 polling.
This increase is bolstered by 71% of Republicans now labeling themselves as MAGA supporters.
NBC News polling has already indicated a shift occurring between the onset of the 2024 presidential primary and the weeks leading up to Election Day, as the GOP solidifies its support for Trump. In January 2024, shortly after Trump’s victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire nominating contests, only 20% of registered voters expressed alignment with the MAGA movement. However, in NBC News’ aggregated polling from October and early November 2024, that figure rose to 29%.
The increased alignment among Republicans towards Trump is primarily driving this trend, with a 16-point rise in Republican identification with the MAGA movement between the two polls conducted just before the 2024 election (55%) and in March this year (71%). Additionally, there has been a similar shift among college-educated men, increasing from 21% in 2024 to 37% in March—a 16-point uptick.
This strong pro-Trump consolidation has contributed to him achieving his highest-ever approval rating (47%) in NBC News’ March poll, though a majority of registered voters, 51%, still expressed disapproval of his performance in office.
“The entire shift is driven by Republicans,” remarked Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster from Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted the survey alongside Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates.
“Observe this transformed party, where we’ve witnessed an increase from 40% of Republicans identifying as MAGA to 71% in just 14 months,” McInturff added.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters between March 7-11, utilizing a combination of telephone interviews and an online survey sent via text message. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
