Donald Trump’s approval rating is taking another hit, with a new post-midterm poll showing that a growing share of Americans disapprove of his performance — and more than half strongly disapprove.
The latest Economist/YouGov survey paints a pretty ugly picture for the president. A whopping 63% of Americans said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance, including 52% who said they strongly disapprove. Just 32% said they approve.
And the numbers get even worse when voters are asked about the issues that matter most to their everyday lives.
Trump is struggling badly on both foreign policy and the economy. A majority of respondents, 61%, disapproved of his handling of foreign policy, while an even larger 67% gave him a thumbs-down on the economy — his worst rating among the issues surveyed.
The results come after Republicans suffered major losses in last week’s midterm elections, with several prominent Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, pointing to the war with Iran as a major factor in the party’s poor performance.
The poll suggests voters are fed up with the conflict. A full 63% said they want the war to end immediately.
Meanwhile, the economic fallout is becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to brush aside. The conflict has sent gasoline and diesel prices soaring, adding pressure to household budgets and making an already frustrating cost-of-living situation even worse.
Americans aren’t exactly optimistic about where things are headed.
More than half of respondents, 55%, said the economy is getting worse. Just 13% said it is improving. And 74% rated the economy as either fair or poor.
When it comes to everyday expenses, the picture is even more troubling. Majorities said the costs of gas, food and housing have all increased substantially. Not a single respondent said gas or food prices had gone down.
That’s a particularly painful result for a president who campaigned on bringing prices down immediately.
Americans aren’t buying Trump’s White House vanity projects
Trump is also getting poor marks for his efforts to reshape Washington with grand monuments and expensive construction projects.
The poll found that 50% of respondents oppose allowing construction of Trump’s proposed White House ballroom to continue. Another 57% oppose his proposed triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
In other words, voters have plenty of concerns about the cost of living — and Trump’s grand personal ambitions aren’t exactly winning them over.
Corruption is another major problem for the president.
As allegations of political favoritism and self-dealing became prominent campaign issues, the survey found that 60% of Americans believe Trump is using the presidency for personal gain.
Even more striking, 82% said they believe most or many of the people in the Trump administration are corrupt.
That’s a devastating level of distrust for an administration that has repeatedly promised to clean up Washington.
The 2028 presidential race is already taking shape
With the midterms behind them, both parties are already looking toward 2028 and the next presidential election.
On the Republican side, Vance currently leads the field with 40% support, followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at 33%.
The Democratic field is much less settled. Former Vice President Kamala Harris leads with 20%, followed by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff at 15%. Ossoff recently won reelection by nearly 20 points in a state that remains one of the country’s most closely watched political battlegrounds.
Of course, the 2028 race is still a long way off. But the latest numbers offer a snapshot of where the parties stand as they begin looking beyond the midterms.
For Trump, the immediate problem is much harder to ignore: His approval rating is sinking, voters are unhappy with his handling of the economy and foreign policy, and large majorities are expressing doubts about corruption inside his administration.
The midterms may be over, but the political warning signs for the president and his Republican allies are still flashing.
