President Donald Trump is ending his 2025 with sluggish poll numbers after a 'genuinely strong year and a long honeymoon,' according to the Daily Mail's pollster, JL Partners' James Johnson.

Several weeks into his second term, the Daily Mail's polling found that Trump was enjoying a 53 percent approval rating in mid-February, ticking up to 54 percent later in the month.

His approval rating was 49 percent throughout all of March and then ticked higher again to the low-50s throughout most of April.

But late in the month, Trump's approval rating sank nine points - going from 54 percent to 45 percent.

Respondents said that this was due to Trump's tariffs, but with a twist. 

Trump labeled April 2 'Liberation Day' and rolled out reciprocal tariffs on imports from countries around the world - even hilariously applying a 10 percent tariff to goods from the Heard and McDonald Islands, Australian islands inhabited by penguins, not people. 

This bumpy rollout may have caused Trump's poll numbers to plummet, but they stayed steady initially. 

Johnson determined that the dip came when Trump reversed course, announcing that the tariffs he had announced wouldn't go into effect right away. 

President Donald Trump holds up a chart showing reciprocal tariffs that he announced on Liberation Day, April 2. His approval numbers dipped 9 points later in the month, thanks to his flip-flop on implementing the tariffs, not the announcement itself, Daily Mail's pollster found

'Our focus groups and interviews at the time suggested voters felt the about-turn undermined their sense of Trump as a strongman who will stick by his word,' Johnson told the Daily Mail. 

At this point, 55 percent of those polled disapproved of the job Trump was doing, while 45 percent approved.

During this time period, Trump received a new nickname - 'TACO' - for 'Trump always chickens out.'  

But four months later, in September, the numbers flipped. 

Trump enjoyed a 55 percent approval rating - his highest of the year - and a 45 percent disapproval rating.

Johnson said this was thanks to Trump appearing tough on crime.

He deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C. in August. 

A month later, Trump stayed in positive territory, with an approval rating of 51 percent. 

President Donald Trump maintained more than a 50 percent approval rating in the Daily Mail's October poll, which was conducted after his trip to Israel and Egypt (pictured) where he inked a deal in an attempt to end the war in Gaza 

Economic anxiety has kept President Donald Trump's poll numbers stuck in the 40s. Pollster James Johnson said one way that Trump can improve those numbers is by sending out the tariff stimulus checks that the White House promised in November