As President Donald Trump prepares to address Congress and the American people for the second time since returning to power last January, he is facing a serious polling problem not seen since the shambolic last days of his chaotic first term.
A series of surveys released over the last few days show the American public harboring significant doubts about his priorities and increasingly questioning whether Trump’s most prominent policy initiatives are helping solve the problems he was re-elected to handle.
Key demographics — including the independent and Latino voters whose support helped propel him to a clear win in both popular electoral vote totals over former vice president Kamala Harris — are expressing their disapproval of his performance, even on issues where he once held commanding advantages over his Democratic adversaries.
One such survey from CNN and SSRS released Monday found that a supermajority of Americans — 61 percent — say his policies will send the country in the wrong direction, while a paltry 36 percent of respondents said they approve of his performance.
That’s a 12-point drop from this time last year, when he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress approximately six weeks into his second term.
At the time, the CNN/SSRS survey showed 48 percent of respondents approving of his performance at the time.
Now, only the most die-hard demographic groups — self-identified Republicans and conservatives plus white Americans without college degrees — hold positive views of his presidency. His approval with Independent voters is at just 26 percent, the lowest ever recorded during his political career and down from the 41 percent who approved of him at this point last year.
It’s even worse with Latino voters, whose support was instrumental in his 2024 win.
Last year, 41 percent of Latinos said they approved of his work. But now, only 22 percent say they do. The drop in Latino support comes as Trump has increased his efforts to arrest and deport more migrants. With headlines and social media showing raids in cities across the nation to detain migrants.
A second survey released over the weekend by ABC News, the Washington Post and IPSOS shows more reasons for Trump to be concerned.
Supermajorities of Americans — 65 percent and 64 percent — say they disapprove of how he’s handled inflation and tariffs, with 62 percent disapproving of his work on relations with foreign countries.
On his strongest issues, immigration and the economy, clear majorities — 58 percent and 57 percent — say they disapprove of his performance.
Overall, the ABC/Post survey found a supermajority of Americans, 60 percent, disapprove of his performance. That’s as high as his disapproval rating has been during his political career, equalling the amount who disapproved of him as he left office in 2021 after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, refusing to accept the result and fomenting a riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Most traditional politicians would take the feedback from voters in stride and consider adjusting their policies — or their behavior — especially at a time when voters are considering whether to let his Republican party retain unified control of Washington or hand the reins of Congress over to the Democratic Party next January.
