“No recent president has fallen so low so quickly,” The Economist reported, capturing the steep decline in President Donald Trump’s approval ratings across the country.
Nearly a year into his second term, Trump is facing a serious drop in popularity, with his approval rating now underwater in 20 states he carried in the 2024 election.
According to polling by YouGov for The Economist, Trump’s net approval rating is negative in all but 11 states.
Nationwide, just 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing, while 57% disapprove and 4% remain unsure. That puts his net approval rating at -19 points, the lowest since his return to office in January.
Widespread Declines, Even in Red States
Trump’s approval has taken a hit in nearly every state, with the sharpest decline in Oklahoma. In January, he held a 27-point lead in approval there.
That has now flipped to a 7-point deficit. Only Idaho has seen a smaller drop, while traditionally blue areas like Washington, D.C. (-75.9), Maryland (-41.5), and Hawaii (-35.6) report the lowest approval overall.
The shift is raising alarms for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms. With the GOP holding a narrow 219-214 edge in the House of Representatives, even small losses could stall the party’s ability to pass legislation.
“President Trump’s aggressive second-term agenda has depended upon complacent Republican majorities in Congress,” said Calvin Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, in comments to Newsweek.
“Now both the president and his congressional majorities are intensely aware that polling has shifted against them on the all-important economic issues.”
Economic Pessimism Fuels Discontent
Trump campaigned in 2024 promising economic revival, famously declaring that “incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely, jobs will come roaring back and the middle class will prosper like never, ever before.”
But polling suggests voters feel those promises are far from reality.
A Fox News poll found 76% of voters view the U.S. economy negatively, a worse score than President Joe Biden had at the end of his presidency, when 70% held a negative view.
Trump’s approval on inflation, jobs, and immigration has dropped sharply over the past year, especially after his declarations of a new trade war rattled investors.
Young voters and minorities, key groups that helped him flip swing states in 2024, are now abandoning him in droves.
Demographic Divide
The Economist’s data shows that Trump still has solid backing among white and male voters. But younger Americans, college graduates, and people of color are overwhelmingly disapproving.
Even among older voters, a group that has long leaned Republican, support is surprisingly weak.
In terms of issues, inflation tops the list of voter concerns across party lines.
Democrats are more focused on health care and civil rights, while Republicans remain fixed on immigration and government spending.
Messaging vs. Reality
Trump has pushed back on the polling, calling it fake. “So many Fake Polls are being shown by the Radical Left Media, all slanted heavily toward Democrats and Far Left Wingers,” he wrote on Truth Social earlier this month.
“Fake News will never change, they are evil and corrupt, but, as I look around my beautiful surroundings, I say to myself, ‘Oh, look, I’m sitting in the Oval Office!’”
Still, data suggest real political damage. Analysts say Trump’s ability to hold together his winning 2024 coalition, which included unusually high support from younger voters and minorities, is weakening fast.
Whether these numbers result in Republican losses in 2026 remains to be seen.
But for now, the polling points to a presidency under growing pressure, even in states that helped bring Trump back to the White House less than a year ago.
IMAGE CREDIT: ”Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.