President Donald Trump just hit a grim milestone: his approval rating has slipped to its lowest point of his second term — and the lowest since he left office in 2021 — adding fresh anxiety for Republicans heading into the 2026 midterms.
A new Gallup poll released over the weekend puts Trump at 36 percent approval, with 60 percent disapproving of his performance since returning to the White House in January. It’s only a one-point dip from July, but the slide matters: Gallup had him holding steady around 40–41 percent for months. His all-time low remains 34 percent, recorded right after the Jan. 6 attack.
What’s rattling GOP strategists most is the erosion among their own voters. Republican approval has fallen seven points since late October, now at 84 percent. Among independents, support has plunged to 25 percent, down from 33 percent.
Issue by issue, the picture isn’t any brighter. Trump gets his highest marks on crime at 43 percent, followed by 41 percent on foreign affairs and 39 percent on trade. Immigration (37 percent) and the economy (36 percent) continue to drag him down, while health care sits at the bottom at 30 percent.
Gallup researchers didn’t sugarcoat the trend: “Each of the current ratings is in line with the prior ones, but there has been a significant erosion in approval since February for Trump’s handling of immigration (-9 points), the situation in the Middle East (-7 points) and the economy (-6 points).” They added that since March, his ratings have fallen double digits on the federal budget and the situation in Ukraine.
On the biggest foreign crises of the moment, Trump sits deep underwater — 33 percent approve of his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, and 31 percent back his response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to Gallup, a mix of political setbacks is fueling the downturn: “The longest shutdown of the federal government, election losses for the Republican Party and continued concerns about affordability appear to have damaged Trump’s standing with the American people in November, especially Republicans and independents.”
Affordability has become a particularly sore point. Trump has tried to reframe rising costs, calling the issue a “con job by the Democrats,” but voters made it clear in the Nov. 5 elections — where several Democrats came out on top — that the strain is real.
And as his numbers fall, Trump has turned up the heat on the press. Earlier this month, he snapped at an ABC News reporter, saying, “Quiet, piggy,” during a question about upcoming Justice Department releases tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Following the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., he repeatedly called a female reporter “a stupid person” when pressed about DHS and FBI vetting of the Afghan suspect now charged with murder.
Gallup warns the GOP may be staring at a real problem: Trump’s sinking numbers combined with Republican losses in the 2025 elections “could be a sign of trouble for Republicans in next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will try to maintain full control of the federal government.”
The survey was conducted Nov. 3–25 with 1,321 respondents and carries a 4-point margin of error.
