President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped sharply over the past year, with working‑class voters and independents driving a steep slide that now leaves him deeply underwater nationwide.
Newsweek contacted the White House via email outside of regular business hours for comment.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek in an emailed statement last week: “The ultimate poll was November 5, 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and common-sense agenda.”
Why It Matters
Trump’s administration is showing visible strain as his job approval erodes among groups that have historically been pivotal in close elections.
With the midterms approaching, these shifts could reshape the electoral map and narrow the Republicans’ hold on power.
What To Know
Two CNN polls conducted a year apart by SSRS point to a clear and consistent decline in Trump’s standing, both overall and within key segments of the electorate.
In mid‑February 2025, Trump’s approval rating stood just below the break‑even line.
In a CNN/SSRS poll conducted from February 13 to February 17, 2025, 47 percent of Americans said they approved of the way Trump was handling his job as president, while 52 percent disapproved, giving a net approval rating (those who approve minus those who disapprove) of -5 percent.
Among voters earning less than $50,000 a year, approval registered at 45 percent, with 53 percent disapproving, yielding a -8 net approval rating.
That survey was conducted via web and telephone using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel of U.S. adults aged 18 and older recruited through probability‑based sampling.
The poll included 1,206 respondents, and its margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
One year later, the numbers looked markedly worse.
A follow‑up CNN/SSRS poll conducted from February 17 to February 20, 2026, found Trump’s overall approval had fallen to 36 percent, with 63 percent disapproving, leaving him 27 points underwater.
Support among voters making under $50,000 dropped further, with just 35 percent approving and 65 percent disapproving, yielding a net approval rating of -30 points.
This later survey was conducted online using the same SSRS opinion panel and probability based recruitment methods.
It included a larger sample of 2,496 respondents and carried a smaller margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Taken together, the two polls show a 10‑point drop in approval among lower‑income voters over the course of a year, paired with a 22‑point deterioration in net approval.
Once a group Trump often pointed to as a political backbone, working‑class voters now disapprove of his performance by a wide margin.
Independent Support Collapses
Independents tell a similar, and even starker, story.
In the February 2025 poll, independents gave Trump a 43 percent approval rating, with 56 percent disapproving, putting him 13 points below water.
While negative, the gap was relatively modest compared with what followed.
By February 2026, independent approval collapsed to 26 percent, while disapproval surged to 73 percent, leaving him 47 points underwater with this key voter group.
That represents a 17‑point drop in approval and a net swing of 34 points in the wrong direction over one year.
Independents routinely decide close House and Senate races, particularly in battleground districts and states.
Losing ground with this group can quickly translate into electoral vulnerability.
The consistency across surveys also matters.
Both polls were conducted by the same firm, using the same underlying panel and sampling techniques, making year‑over‑year comparisons more meaningful than isolated snapshots.
What People Are Saying
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek in an emailed statement: “The ultimate poll was November 5, 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and common-sense agenda. The President has already made historic progress not only in America, but around the world. It is not surprising that President Trump remains the most dominant figure in American politics.”
Speaking at a White House event on Monday, Trump said: “It just amazes me that there’s not more support out there. We actually have silent support. I think it’s silent. I think that’s how I won.”
Senior elections analyst Eli McKown Dawson wrote for the Silver Bulletin: “Most Americans strongly approve or disapprove of the job Trump is doing, while comparatively fewer only somewhat approve or disapprove.
“But since we started tracking these numbers back in May, nearly all of the decline in his popularity has come from these ‘strong’ groups.
“The share of Americans who strongly approve of Trump has dropped from 34 percent when he was inaugurated to just 24 percent today, while the share who strongly disapprove has risen from 31 percent to 45 percent.
“In comparison, when you draw lines through Trump’s weak job approval and disapproval numbers, they’re essentially flat.”
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said: “It’s the weakest Donald Trump has ever been with independents. Look at this drop. At this point a year ago Donald Trump was at minus 13. Look at this—minus 47 points among independents. The lowest Donald Trump has ever been in either of his two terms.”
What Happens Next
How these approval numbers evolve will likely hinge on economic conditions, legislative battles in Washington, and major foreign‑policy developments that could either stabilize Trump’s standing or deepen the erosion reflected in recent polling.
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