It’s finally happened
There has been a ton of lamenting about how Donald Trump’s approval rating is still in the forties, even after he’s tanked the economy, wrecked foreign relations, and everything else he’s screwed up. Being in the forties is actually historically low for a US President in his first hundred days, so Trump is in a really bad position. But still, it’s fair to ask how this guy can somehow still be in the forties after all he’s done. But there’s good news.
Well, there’s good news for us. It’s certainly not good news for Trump. He’s finally dropped into the thirties in one major new poll. Reuters has Trump all the day down to 37%. Keep in mind, multiple other recent polls still have him in the forties. But now that he’s into the thirties in one poll, there’s reason to expect it’ll begin happening in other polls as well. But why does this matter?
Presidents derive their power from their approval rating. The first law of US presidential politics is that while a popular President can get away with almost anything, an unpopular President can get away with very little. The more Trump’s approval rating drops, the more aggressive people like John Roberts and Jerome Powell are going to feel they can be in pushing back against him. And House and Senate Republicans in vulnerable 2026 races are going to start thinking about how to distance themselves from an unpopular Trump in an attempt at appealing to their moderate constituents.
So yes, it matters a great deal that Donald Trump, still in his first hundred days, has already dropped into the thirties. This means that in just three disastrous months, nearly two thirds of Americans now stand against him. It would have been nice if they could have remembered what a disaster Trump was before November 2024. But at least they’re figuring it out now. Every point Trump’s approval rating drops, the less political muscle he’ll have, and the more our ability to stop him will grow.
