It’s no secret that Donald Trump likes big numbers. But right now, his approval ratings are anything but.
In three separate, independent, high-quality polls released this week, Trump’s overall approval rating is in the low 30s, representing the worst rapport he’s had with the American public since the end of his first term and the January 6 riot at the Capitol building.
The three major polls —CNN, AP-NORC, and Quinnipiac — have Trump at 34 percent, 33 percent and 32 percent approval, respectively.
These are brutal numbers. The CNN poll gives us more insight as to why exactly America is fed up with the big man in charge, with 73 percent of respondents saying Trump “hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.”
That’s a clear indication that Trump’s priorities are way out of whack. CNN’s survey also showed that some of Trump’s biggest projects — his ballroom and reflecting pool debacles, that is — are also out of favor with everyday voters, 58 percent of whom said they were dissatisfied or angry about Trump’s D.C. renovation projects.
These polls aren’t outliers. New polling from the Argument, which surveyed 3,000 registered voters between July 20-26, had Trump at a 39-percent approval rating, though that combines both “strongly approve” and “somewhat approve” responses. The same poll found that 47 percent of voters “strongly disapprove” of Trump’s performance, with another 10 percent in the “somewhat disapprove” camp.
Major polls have been showing bad numbers for Trump practically since he retook office and kicked off his tariff regime, and especially since the full cost of the war in Iran started to really hit financial markets. Tatishe Nteta, provost of political science at UMass-Amherst, told Rolling Stone in April that polls consistently slipping under the 40 per cent approval mark represents a shift in public opinion that is dangerously outside of the norm for a sitting president. Usually, there’s about a 40-40 split in hardcore approval-disapproval, so when the numbers start to slip below those lines, it can indicate that a president is losing support from his own party. Trump is now barely cracking 30 percent in some polls.
The dismal polling was a bad sign back in April. In July, it’s even worse. Primary season for most states is wrapping up, and candidates across the country are starting to buckle down for general elections in the upcoming midterms. That’s going to put Trump’s popularity on the agenda for any Democrats looking to taint their opponents with their widely disliked leader.
Poll numbers, as always, can be fickle. But in this case, they’re following a clear trend. Under Trump, life has gotten harder for average Americans. A separate Navigator Research poll released this week found that the shift in Trump’s popularity was directly tied to these impacts, with gas prices and the costly war in Iran driving many voters away from him.
The most telling statistic Navigator found, though, is a measure of regret. They found that 23 percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 now regret that decision. While the next presidential election isn’t until 2028 — and assumedly won’t have Trump’s name on the ballot — those dissatisfied voters will have a chance to reject every candidate who’s pledged him fealty. When the king goes down, his lackeys tend to fall too.
