Confidence in President Donald Trump’s agenda is steadily eroding, according to multiple polls that show his approval rating hitting new lows as scandals, feuds and policy U-turns become an increasingly prominent part of his presidency.
As the 100th day of Trump’s second term draws near, the repercussions and reality of his swift and sweeping policies are becoming ever clearer to the American public.
Several polls this week showed his approval rating sinking to -19, according to the Pew Research Centre, -13, according to the Economist and YouGov, and -11, according to Reuters-Ipsos.
The US President has often called unflattering reports and comments “fake news”, but the latest polling includes even administration-friendly outlet Fox News, which gave him a -11 approval rating.
“What you’re seeing with the disapproval of President Trump is not surprising,” said Michael Sozan, Senior Fellow at the Washington-based think-tank the Centre for American Progress.
“What it shows is that, obviously, President Trump is removing the guardrails off a traditional presidency, and removing our system in the United States of checks and balances, and just trying to do things as an authoritarian would try to do them,” said Sozan.
“And when you cut out the other branches of government from the process, when you try to minimise them, that can lead to terrible results. And we are seeing that already.”
Polls consistently show public confidence in the President’s agenda is fading. A Gallup poll released this week showed that for the first time in a quarter-century, the majority of Americans, 53 per cent, said their personal financial situation was worsening. Republicans accounted for 28 per cent of that group.
As analysis by The Washington Post indicates that overall number is higher than it was during three US recessions (2001, 2007-2009 and 2020) and during the post-pandemic inflation of the past few years.
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell on 11 April (Photo: Timothy A Clary/AFP)Multiple polls have shown that Trump’s overall approval rating on the economy continues to decline – but perhaps most strikingly, this trend is also reflected in a Fox News poll released this week.
The Fox poll found that the President hit a “new low” of 38 per cent approval on the economy, while 56 per cent of respondents disapproved of his economic performance.
Trump’s “worst ratings” are on inflation, the poll found, with 33 per cent approval and 59 per cent disapproval, followed by tariffs (33-58 per cent), foreign policy (40-54 per cent), taxes (38-53 per cent), and guns (41-44 per cent) respectively.
Furthermore, two Reuters-Ipsos polls in April have shown Trump’s approval on the economy at just 37 per cent – even lower than in his first term.
“I think these poll numbers, particularly from Fox, kind of align with what we’re seeing from other polls as well, in that we’re seeing a decline in overall approval ratings. He’s, you know, mostly in the negative there,” said Kaitlin Senk, lecturer at the Department of Politics, Languages, and International Studies at the University of Bath.
Affecting Americans’ bottom line
Many voters backed Trump largely because they believed his business background would translate into economic success for them and the country.
But an Economist-YouGov poll released on Wednesday showed Trump’s approval on jobs and the economy dropping by double digits for the first time, with 53 per cent of Americans disapproving compared with just 41 per cent approving.
The poll showed that even 21 per cent of Republicans disapproved of Trump’s handling of inflation.
Trumps’s senior adviser Elon Musk has proven a hugely unpopular part of the administration (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP)Americans indicated by a margin of roughly 30 points that Trump’s economic policies had harmed them personally rather than benefited them, and similarly, by more than 30 points, they feel these policies have hurt the US economy overall.
Only about 10 per cent of independents believed Trump’s economic actions had benefited them personally, while half feel they have had a negative impact. Additionally, the number of people who say Trump’s policies have hurt both them and the economy “a lot” is roughly four times higher than those who say they’ve helped “a lot”, the Economist-YouGov poll showed.
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Read More“That’s affecting people as they go to the store to buy food, you know, to fill up their car with gas, gasoline, all of these things are more immediate.”
“People are not seeing, you know, any sort of material gains in their day-to-day lives on the economy. And instead, what we’re seeing are things like tariffs and cutting government programs in the name of efficiency that are going to start to have a real impact in a negative way on the economy, particularly as it pertains with these tariffs on the cost of goods.”
The higher approval ratings on issues like immigration may be due to the fact that people are paying closer attention to issues that are affecting them directly, like bills and prices at the store, said Senk.
Trump is still doing well in certain areas that have been traditionally popular with his base, including border security and immigration, with the Fox News poll showing 55 per cent approval of his policies on border security compared with 40 per cent disapproval. On immigration, a high of 47 per cent approve while 48 per cent disapprove.
However, interestingly, a poll this week suggested that nearly two to one – 50 per cent to 28 per cent – of Americans felt that Trump should abide by a court order to return a wrongly deported man to the US.
Kilmar Abrego García was sent to prison in El Salvador and has not been returned – despite the administration flouting a court order by not doing so.
US military staff install concertina wire on top of the wall along the US-Mexico border on Wednesday (Photo: Patrick/AFP/Getty Images)Approval ratings on how Trump is handling issues like immigration and deportations may begin to decline more noticeably, Senk said.
“The only areas in which he is receiving higher levels of approval than disapproval is on issues of immigration and border security. But I will say that I think that might be changing already, actually.”
The Elon Musk factor
Cutting excessive government spending was one of the most popular issues during the campaign, but it has since become one of the most controversial topics in terms of approval ratings, largely due to Elon Musk’s aggressive, “chainsaw” approach to implementing cuts within government programmes.
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The Fox poll found that 39 per cent approved of Elon Musk’s role at the Department of Government Efficiency, while 56 per cent disapproved.
“That’s something that sounds very good to people, to voters on paper, but is actually quite difficult to do in practice. And it very much requires an in-depth understanding of how these different government agencies work,” Senk said.
“And then, you know, the administration realises that they still need some of these people, but that they can’t contact them via their federal emails because they are fired and they’ve been locked out of them. So a lot of this incompetence I think is really reflective of an administration that doesn’t quite know what it’s doing.”
As Trump nears the 100-day milestone of his second term, his administration may be compelled to re-evaluate its heavy-handed approach to governance.
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