Trump performs historically bad in new poll
Donald Trump’s job approval sank to 36 percent in a
Gallup survey, a second-term low that leaves his net approval at -24 points, a level that CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten called “a disaster” if it holds toward next year’s midterm elections.
Trump’s historically low standing
Gallup reported that 36% of U.S. adults approve of the job Trump is doing while 60% disapprove.
Enten, speaking with anchor Sara Sidner on
CNN News Central, described the numbers as “a disaster if it holds towards the midterm elections.”
He noted that Trump’s net approval had slipped from minus one point in January 2025 to minus 24 points.
“This is Gallup, this is the longest-running poll,” Enten
said.
“Look at this now, negative 24 points. Way, way down! We’re talking about a drop of over 20 points in the wrong direction for the president of the United States.”
He also stressed that the poll's findings were consistent with other surveys, explaining, “It matches the trend that we’ve seen with other polls. That is, Donald Trump hitting his low for the second term. I think we’re up to 10 polls in sort of the last 40 days, 10 different pollsters who have said that Trump is at the lowest point he is in his second term.”
Comparisons to past presidents
George W. Bush’s -19 net approval in 2006 preceded a Democratic wave that flipped both chambers of Congress, a parallel Enten highlighted.By: Alex Wong - Pool via CNP / MEGA© Knewz (CA)
Enten placed the Gallup result in historical context on air: among two-term presidents at a comparable point in their second term, only Richard Nixon which was -36 in Gallup-era comparison and Trump’s ranks among the very weakest readings since the 1940s.
Enten added that Trump’s numbers were also weaker than those of Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, noting, “Anywhere you look, this is the second worst for a president of either party at this point in their second term, dating all the way back since the 1940s.”
Broader polling trends
The
New York Times’ polling aggregator currently places Trump’s average disapproval
rating at 55 percent, with multiple pollsters projecting that Democrats are positioned to retake control of Congress in the 2026 midterms.
Even McLaughlin and Associates, a firm often cited by Trump as favorable, has warned that Republicans are losing ground among independent voters.
Trump’s response
Despite the data, Trump has rejected the unfavorable polling. On Truth Social, he wrote, “So many Fake Polls are being shown by the Radical Left Media…Fake News will never change.”
In another post, Trump claimed he had his “highest Poll Numbers, ever,” contradicting Gallup’s report that his approval rating had reached its lowest point since the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riots, when Gallup recorded him at 34 percent approval.
In 2006, Bush’s low approval coincided with Democrats gaining control of both chambers of Congress. Nixon’s collapse in support preceded his resignation in 1974.
With Republicans holding only a narrow majority in the House, Gallup’s findings highlight the risks facing the party as it heads into the 2026 midterms