Donald Trump’s approval rating takes a tumble
Generally, a president’s approval rating is the greatest measure of whether or not they’ll be able to pull off much of their agenda at any given moment. A newly elected president tends to get the benefit of the doubt and enjoys a fairly solid approval rating – around 60% or greater. Even President Biden, who had low approval ratings for much of his term, polled fairly well within the first hundred days of his presidency, prior to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Donald Trump, by contrast, elected in 2016 by a fluke, spent his first term never getting his approval above 50%.
While he had support hovering around that ballpark shortly after he was elected in 2024, he’s dropping below that mark, as much as nine points in the latest Quinnipiac poll, where his disapprovals have peaked to be higher than his actual approval. The FiveThirtyEight average also shows a sizable drop as well – and it has become clearer than ever that Trump does not have public support on many of the issues – even immigration, the cornerstone issue he campaigned on, where nearly half of voters disapprove.
Trump fared even more poorly on issues of the Russia-Ukraine War and the economy, as inflation is becoming a high priority issue once again, and Trump’s mishandling of it is obvious. Stories about Trump’s ineptitude are clearly working – as are stories about Elon Musk being the real president – and this is what we need to keep promoting to take back power in 2025 and 2026.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making