Job performance: 58% Americans disapprove of Trump’s policies; 70% say the US economy weakening

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Disapproval of President Donald Trump has climbed to the highest level of his second term in the White House, according to The New York Times polling average, which found that 58 percent of Americans disapprove of his job performance; only 39 percent approve of what he has been doing.

That is the highest disapproval rating Trump has faced since the end of his first term in January 2021, in the aftermath of his re-election campaign loss and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the paper said.

He has to face the US Congress’ critical midterm elections in November 2026.

Trump’s weakening poll numbers come as the ongoing war in Iran has sharply driven up gas prices, and as a growing number of Americans are expressing concerns about the economy. Many Democrat lawmakers are trying to make the midterm elections a referendum on Trump’s second presidency, and some of his former allies in the conservative media, including Tucker Carlson, have turned against him in recent days.

A Marquette University Law School poll taken last week found Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 28 per cent among political independents, down from 39 per cent when he took office in January 2025. Among Republicans, their own President has also lost some ground, although the vast majority of the party — 80 per cent — still approve of his job performance.

Taken together, the polling average shows that Trump now has a net approval rating — approval minus disapproval — of negative 19 per cent, as of Thursday this week.

Approval ratings can move around from day to day as new polls update our understanding of how the American public is feeling about the President, but Trump has experienced several weeks of weakening poll numbers.

Concern about the US economy is reaching a fever pitch. Seven in ten voters now say that the economy is getting worse for them and their families, up from 55 per cent just one year ago, in a recent Fox News poll. Economic anxiety is also up sharply with the President’s base. Nearly half of Republicans now say the economy is getting worse, double the share who said the same last April.

This comes as Trump’s approval on the economy stands at 34 per cent and his approval on handling inflation at just 28 per cent. Voters are far more likely to approve of how he has been handling immigration and the border. Nearly half of all voters — 46 percent — approve of Trump’s immigration policy.