WASHINGTON — President Trump’s standing with the public has slipped to some of the weakest levels of his second term, according to a pair of new national surveys, with voters’ verdicts on inflation and the cost of living dragging his numbers down four months before the midterm elections, Newsweek reported.
What the New Numbers Show
An Economist/YouGov poll conducted July 3-6 among 1,603 adults found 35 percent approval against 61 percent disapproval — a net rating of minus-26 that matches the low point of this term recorded in May. A separate Focaldata survey of 2,016 adults taken June 26-30 produced a net approval of minus-23, an all-time low for that pollster’s series, with disapproval rising for the fourth consecutive month.
Polling averages tell a similar story with slightly softer edges: aggregate trackers that blend dozens of surveys currently place the president’s approval in the mid-to-high 30s, according to Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin tracker, underwater by double digits in nearly every reputable series.
The Economy Is the Anchor
The issue-by-issue breakdown in the Focaldata survey explains the slide. On inflation and the cost of living, just 20 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling against 67 percent who disapprove — a stunning net rating of minus-47. Jobs and the economy net out at minus-27, housing at minus-32, and foreign policy at minus-20. The president’s strongest issue remains immigration and border security, where he trails only narrowly at 41 percent approval to 46 percent disapproval.
The pattern — relative strength on the border, deep weakness on prices — has been remarkably stable this year. What has changed is intensity: pollsters note that the share of Americans who “strongly disapprove” continues to grow, a warning sign for the intensity gap heading into November’s midterms.
The White House Pushes Back
The administration rejects the numbers’ implications. “No other President in history has accomplished more,” a White House spokesman said in response to the surveys, pointing to what he called historic progress on jobs, inflation, and housing affordability. Administration allies also note, accurately, that approval ratings in the modern era are structurally depressed for every president — polarization puts a hard ceiling on how high any occupant of the Oval Office can climb.
Why It Matters Now
Presidential approval remains the single most reliable predictor of midterm outcomes. Parties defending the White House with a president below 40 percent approval have historically suffered severe House losses — and Republicans are defending narrow majorities in both chambers this cycle. That arithmetic explains the urgency behind the party’s summer legislative push, from tax measures to this week’s daylight saving time vote, and the intensifying internal debates over strategy chronicled in the Capitol this month.
Four months is an eternity in politics, and inflation trajectories, foreign developments, or campaign dynamics could move these numbers meaningfully in either direction. But as of mid-July, the polling consensus is unambiguous: the president enters the midterm season carrying the heaviest disapproval of his term, with the price of groceries — not any Washington controversy — doing the most damage.
