Donald Trump's Approval Rating Drops to All-Time Low With Major Pollster

0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. President Donald Trump 's approval rating has fallen to the lowest point of either of his terms in office, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

The survey, conducted July 25-27 among 1,559 U.S. adult citizens, found 34 percent approve of the job Trump is doing as president, down 2 points from the previous week, while 62 percent disapprove, up 2 points. It is the lowest approval rating Trump has recorded with the pollster since returning to office, surpassing previous lows notched earlier this year.

The poll was conducted online and has a margin of error of ±3.3 percentage points.

Trump's standing with voters has eroded steadily since the spring, as an unpopular war with Iran , persistent inflation concerns and rising gas prices have weighed on his numbers. The Economist/YouGov poll is conducted weekly with a large national sample, and its finding of a new career low adds to a broader pattern showing Trump underwater with the electorate roughly three months before the midterm elections.

The survey found deep divides by party, race and education. Trump's net approval rating, the share who approve minus the share who disapprove, stood at plus 64 among Republicans but minus 92 among Democrats and minus 53 among independents. He was underwater by 25 points among voters without a college degree and by 35 points among college graduates.

The White House disputed the significance of the sliding numbers.

"The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda," White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek. "No other President in history has accomplished more for the American people than President Trump, who is working tirelessly to create jobs, cool inflation, increase housing affordability, and more."

Ingle added that Trump "has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world, and this is just the beginning as his agenda continues taking effect."

The Economist/YouGov finding lines up with a cluster of recent surveys that have shown Trump stuck below 40 percent for months. A Washington Post/Ipsos poll released in mid-July put his approval at 37 percent and disapproval at 61 percent, unchanged from April, with his ratings on the economy , immigration and the Iran war all below 40 percent. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted July 21-24 found 39 percent approval and 61 percent disapproval, with approval of the U.S. military campaign against Iran falling to 39 percent from 44 percent in March.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted July 6-12 put Trump's approval at 34 percent, matching the new Economist/YouGov number, with 64 percent disapproving. That poll also found Democrats holding a six-point edge on the generic congressional ballot, with a plurality of voters, 42 percent, saying their vote for Congress this fall will be a vote against Trump, compared with 22 percent who said it would be a vote for him.

Polling averages tell a similar story. FiftyPlusOne's weighted average had Trump at 36.8 percent approval and 59.8 percent disapproval as of July 27, a net approval of minus 23. Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin average showed Trump's net approval at minus 17.4 as of the same date, an improvement from a second-term low of minus 20.2 in May but still weaker than his standing at the equivalent point in his first term. Trump began his second term with a 52 percent approval rating, according to The New York Times' polling average, before his numbers slid following the rollout of tariffs last spring and the start of the Iran war.

The new poll's cross-tabs point to weakness with the voters who decide close elections. Trump's approval among independents, a group that swung to Republicans in 2024, has been running well below the 40 percent threshold strategists consider the floor for a party trying to avoid a midterm wave. His minus-53 net approval among independents is among the worst in any recent poll.

The economic backdrop behind the falling numbers is measurable. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported June's consumer price index fell 0.4 percent from May, the largest one-month drop in more than six years, bringing annual inflation down to 3.5 percent from 4.2 percent in May. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, held flat for the month at a 2.6 percent annual rate.

Gas prices tell a more volatile story. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $4.10 on Monday, according to AAA, up sharply from $3.83 in early July as fighting resumed in the Strait of Hormuz. Prices had peaked at $4.56 on May 21 during an earlier flare-up, and were as low as $2.96 on Feb. 26, two days before the war began.

Consumer sentiment has moved in the opposite direction, though with a catch. The University of Michigan's preliminary July index climbed to 54.4, up from 49.5 in June and the highest reading since February, as easing gas prices lifted household outlooks. But the survey was conducted between June 23 and July 13, largely before the ceasefire collapsed and gas prices resumed climbing, meaning the improvement may not survive the next reading. Sentiment remains about 12 percent below where it stood a year ago, and one-year inflation expectations, at 4.2 percent, are still well above the 3.4 percent recorded in February, before the war.

Trump's approval has fluctuated within a narrow band for months, but the trend has mostly pointed downward. His numbers briefly ticked up in April before dropping sharply in May to what pollsters described at the time as the lowest of either term, driven by tariff-fueled inflation concerns. Since then, a string of surveys, including Pew, Washington Post/Ipsos, CBS News/YouGov and now Economist/YouGov, have kept him mired in the mid-to-high 30s.

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