After California Gov. Gavin Newsom mocked Donald Trump’s sinking public support, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa appeared on Fox Business to defend his party’s president. “The ultimate in false statements,” the California congressman said. “Trump’s low approval rating? It couldn’t be higher!”
This is certainly the line the GOP is expected to toe, as evidenced by House Speaker Mike Johnson declaring on CNBC last month that Trump’s approval rating is “skyrocketing.” The Louisiana Republican added, “CNN had a story, I think a day or two ago, he was at a 90% approval rating. There’s never been a president that high.”
This is clearly what Trump wants to hear. Indeed, the president himself this week published an item to his social media platform that read, “Wow! Highest polling Republican President in HISTORY! Thank you.”
His missive didn’t include any references to any specific surveys, and for good reason: Trump, who has a habit of making up imaginary approval ratings for himself, was peddling nonsense.
The latest national poll from Gallup found Trump’s approval slipping to an embarrassing 37%, and a new national survey from the Pew Research Center pointed in a very similar direction. From its analysis:
Six months into his second term, public evaluations of President Donald Trump’s job performance have grown more negative. His job approval stands at 38% (60% disapprove), and fewer Americans now attribute several positive personal characteristics to him than did so during the campaign.
The closer one looks at the results, the worse they appear.
- Trump has said the GOP’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is broadly popular, but the Pew poll found only 32% of Americans approve of it.
- Trump has said the public “loves” his trade tariffs, but the Pew poll found 61% of Americans disapprove of his tariff policies (which is consistent with several other recent national surveys that generated similar results).
- Trump has said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has helped improve his public standing, but the Pew poll found 70% of the public disapproves of the administration’s handling of the matter, and 63% lack trust in what the White House has to say about the controversy.
- Trump is even losing ground among voters who supported his 2024 candidacy: His approval among these voters has slipped from 95% to 85% over the course of the year.
- In terms of his personal characteristics, the number of Americans who see Trump as “mentally sharp” has dropped below 50%, and he fares far worse on questions related to his “honesty,” his ability to “keep his promises” and his interest in looking out for “ordinary” people.
What’s the good news for the White House in the Pew survey? There isn’t any.
Issa might believe that Trump’s public support “couldn’t be higher,” but I’d remind the congressman that, as a rule, it’s pretty easy for presidents to have approval ratings higher than 38%. In fact, at this point in his term, there’s never been an American president, in either party, with less support than Trump. I’m mindful of the argument that his approval rating no longer matters, since he cannot legally seek another term, but I continue to think polls like these are important to the extent that popular presidents wield more power, while flailing presidents wield less. Indeed, it might help explain why Trump keeps lying about his dwindling popularity. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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