Well, well—look who’s climbing in the polls again. Spoiler alert: it’s not Biden.
After years of breathless headlines, courtroom soap operas, and “this time we’ve got him” clickbait, Donald J. Trump just pulled off what legacy media swore was impossible: he went to Russia—or rather, Alaska to meet with Putin—and came back with… more support. Not less. Not even a slight dip. Actual majority approval, folks.
Let that sink in for a second. A Republican president meets with Vladimir Putin—yes, that Putin—and instead of the usual “collusion” panic and hand-wringing think pieces, Americans across nearly every age group respond with: “Yep, sounds good.”
Here’s the kicker: even young voters and middle-aged Americans, two groups the media likes to pretend live off a steady diet of NPR and TikTok lectures, are giving Trump a thumbs-up. The numbers? 57% approval from those aged 18 to 64. The only group lagging behind? Those over 65, who—let’s be honest—might still be watching cable news and believing half the garbage aired there.
And don’t miss this detail: Trump’s numbers also rose among black and Hispanic voters.
You know, the same demographics Democrats treat like a guaranteed checkbox every election cycle. The same groups they trot out for town halls and then forget about until two years later. Suddenly, Trump’s message—peace through strength, American pride, economic common sense—seems to be landing with a little more weight.
Additionally, things are changing over seas:
Major shifts: Ukrainians who back fighting for full war victory vs. Russia has collapsed from 73% in 2022 to 24% now.
Support for a negotiated end is up to 69%, as few (25%) think the war will end soon.
Belief that Ukraine will join NATO soon is down from 64% (2022) to 32% now pic.twitter.com/KIVAUeuOo3
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) August 18, 2025
But wait, because it gets juicier.
These numbers come courtesy of InsiderAdvantage—a polling firm that, unlike some of the fly-by-night “data journalism” outfits, actually has a reputation. RealClearPolitics ranked them in the top ten for general election polling across eight years. That’s not exactly small potatoes.
So, why haven’t you heard this splashed across CNN’s front page or crammed into MSNBC’s evening spin-fest? Simple: it doesn’t fit the narrative.
The left is frustrated because if Trump pulls this off it will put Biden to shame:
Talk of Donald Trump as a Russian asset has (re)emerged following the Putin summit.
I still don’t believe it.
I think there is a WAY simpler explanation. pic.twitter.com/qt4jtHyZwu
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) August 18, 2025
It’s no wonder he was forced out:
After everything Putin has done, President Trump is still enamored with the Russian leader. I explain why European leaders accompanied Zelenskyy to the United States.
Link to the full discussion in the bio.#politics #news #ukraine #russia #tacotrump #europeleaders pic.twitter.com/77K0Pp78WH
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) August 18, 2025
Instead, they’re still clinging to those Pew Research numbers from early August showing Trump in the 30s. Never mind that Pew’s methodology leans toward telephone surveys and “weighted demographics” that somehow always skew left. Ignore the fact that Americans are reacting to what Trump is doing right now, not what he tweeted five years ago.
And what is he doing? Oh, just meeting with Putin and brokering the closest thing to peace in Ukraine we’ve seen since 2022.
You’d think that would earn him some cautious praise. Maybe even a “well, let’s see how it goes” from the press corps. Nope. Crickets. Or worse—condescending sighs and thinly veiled mockery from anchors whose foreign policy experience ends at reading a teleprompter.
Here’s what did happen, though. Putin agreed—agreed—to allow the U.S. and Europe to provide NATO-style security guarantees to Ukraine in a future peace deal. That’s not spin. That’s not “Trump said it, so it must be a lie.” That came straight from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on CNN.
This is the kind of concession that multiple presidents, think tank panels, and international summits couldn’t squeeze out of the Kremlin. But Trump walks in, gets a handshake and a maybe-deal, and Americans respond by saying, “You know what? We approve.”
Now cue the panic at DNC headquarters.
Rubio leveled the media’s attempt:
Marco Rubio is honestly just soooooo good at being Secretary of State.
This man is a bonafide legend. pic.twitter.com/L1r1kK7URz
— Joey Mannarino 🇺🇸 (@JoeyMannarinoUS) August 17, 2025
🚨 HOLY CRAP! CBS’ Margaret Brennan thought she knew more about foreign policy and the Russia-Ukraine negotiations than Marco Rubio.
She didn’t. He put her in her place. Rubio is a masterclass.
“No it isn’t, that’s not why…That’s not true…No.”pic.twitter.com/ZpZASCsFYQ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 17, 2025
If this trend continues—if Trump keeps showing strength abroad, calm at the podium, and gets people talking about peace instead of perpetual war—he doesn’t just win back the middle. He takes back independents, skeptical moderates, and yes, even those supposedly untouchable minority voters.
And guess what? That over-65 crowd? Once they see the stock market climb and their grandkids stop talking about “nuclear escalation,” they might come around too.
So don’t be surprised if more numbers like this start surfacing. Don’t be surprised when the mainstream tries to bury them under a dozen headlines about Trump’s hair, his diet, or whatever legal circus is playing in New York this week.