President Donald Trump has made history for being only the second president—after himself during his first term—to have a negative approval rating just two months into his presidency, registering negative ratings on issues including the economy, foreign policy and more.
Newsweek reached out on Thursday evening for comment by email.
Why It Matters
Trump entered the White House on a wave of enthusiasm among Republicans, with lawmakers insisting the president had a mandate from voters to pursue his agenda after the party won the White House and majorities in both houses of Congress.
What To Know
Fresh polls from Fox News, Reuters/Ipsos, NBC, Quinnipiac and more were released this week, covering Trump’s overall approval as well as his approval on individual issues—broken down additionally among Democrats and Republicans—and the response has been overall negative.
Trump had scored major points early on with approval for how he handled his transition back to the White House, achieving a -0.3 approval just before his second inauguration when looking at the aggregate from 538. He also has strong approval in some polls on immigration and his handling of border security.
However, in the latest polls that have come out, he has scored a negative approval rating in most polls—and virtually every major poll: Fox News reported a 49 percent approval, while the Economist/YouGov reported 47 percent approval, Reuters/Ipsos reported 44 percent approval, NBC reported 47 percent approval, and Quinnipiac at 42 percent approval.
Newsweek‘s average of the 10 recent polls found that Trump has an approval rating of 47 percent, with disapproval at 49 percent.
Gallup found that Trump had a 47 percent approval as he started his second term, which beat his 45 percent approval after his first inauguration, but it still ranks Trump as the only president—twice now—to have a negative approval so early in his administrations going back to 1937, according to CNN.
According to the pollster, even presidents like Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush who entered with borderline positive approval ratings—both scoring 51 percent shortly after inauguration day—had very small negative ratings at 13 percent and 6 percent each while the bulk of America remained undecided.
Trump’s disapproval rating shortly after his first inauguration was 45 percent, while he scored 48 percent disapproval just after his second inauguration. Very few people polled had no opinion of Trump going into either of his administrations.
When it comes to the issues, Trump has more disapproval than approval on foreign policy, the economy and inflation—issues that some pointed to as the backbone of his popularity going into the 2024 election and key issues that the public voted for him to solve.
The latest Fox News poll, carried out from March 14 to 17, found that 56 percent of respondents disapproved of how Trump has handled the economy so far. His disapproval on inflation is even greater at 58 percent.
AtlasIntel, touted by some as the most accurate polling company in the 2024 election, found Trump to have 47 percent approval compared to 52 percent disapproval, having polled 2,550 respondents with a margin of error plus or minus two percentage points. Earlier polls by AtlasIntel found Trump at 50 percent in January and February.
What People Are Saying
CNN’s Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Nein nein nein… The American folks are saying ‘oy vey… ay caramba!'”… Trump becomes only the 2nd president (tying himself) to have net negative approval two months into a term. He is underwater on all major issues (economy, foreign policy, etc.), except immigration.
Pollster Nate Silver, the founder of 538, wrote on X earlier this month: “Just a net ~1 point swing. But Trump’s approval ratings turned net negative in our tracker for the first time. The economy/market stuff may have an impact even if other things don’t. Or it could be a fluke. Worth watching at least.”
Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho, a Republican, wrote on X: “The media has worked tirelessly to paint [POTUS] and his policies in a negative light. Don’t be fooled. Approval ratings for Pres. Trump and Republicans are at record highs. America is once again leading with strength.”
What Happens Next
Trump continues to seek to downsize the federal government, signing an executive order on Thursday that will begin “eliminating” the Department of Education “once and for all.”
Trump has previously responded to polls but has yet to respond to the latest numbers.
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