About a month ago, as part of an all-caps rant published to his social media platform, Donald Trump said his “real” public support had reached an all-time high. The president, who has an unfortunate track record of simply making up generous approval ratings for himself, soon after pointed to imaginary polls that showed “my Approval Rating at 65%, and more!”
Two weeks later, the Republican published a related item to his platform, writing, “59% Approval Rating. … Thank you!”
Even in the alternate reality created by the president to soothe his fragile ego, his public support had fallen six points in two weeks.
The inadvertent concession was amusing, although it’s a safe bet that no one in the White House was laughing at the latest round of polls showing Trump’s actual approval rating. Indeed, the latest national survey data, released over the last 24 hours, offered devastating results for the president.
- The latest CNN poll showed Trump’s overall approval rating slipping to 34%, matching the career low he last saw in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack. The same survey showed the president struggling on issues across the board, and his backing among Republican voters has dropped to 78%, his worst-ever standing among members of his own party.
- The latest Quinnipiac University poll showed Trump’s overall approval rating slipping to 32%, an all-time low, driven in large part by broad opposition to the war with Iran and the White House’s economic policies.
- The latest Associated Press poll also showed Trump’s overall approval rating slipping to 33%, for the same reasons as the other surveys.
For months, there’s been a parlor game of sorts in political circles as observers wonder where the president’s floor might be. As the Republican’s support falls to new depths, those assessments are being reconsidered.
Let’s not forget that in the aftermath of the 2024 election, plenty of commentary heralded Trump as some kind of political colossus who had successfully realigned American politics and positioned his party for prolonged electoral success.
Such talk appears quite laughable in hindsight.
One school of thought has suggested the focus on Trump’s approval rating is misplaced, since he can’t run for a third term and will almost certainly never appear on a ballot again.
The trouble with that perspective is that congressional Republicans are preparing for a midterm election cycle at the same time the American electorate is turning sharply against a GOP president — whom those same congressional Republicans have championed and followed in sycophantic ways since his return to power.
Indeed, the lower Trump’s support sinks, the more his party will have to confront a question about how to respond to reality-based data. Do they take new, meaningful steps to distance themselves from a failing, woefully unpopular president, or do they continue to carry Trump’s water and take their chances with dissatisfied constituents?
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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