Trump's Approval Ratings Drop to Lowest Level of This Term
President Donald Trump's approval rating is now at the lowest it has been since he began his second term in January 2025. What are Americans saying about the job that the president is doing? Read on for all of the details about what is dragging down his numbers.
Inside the Numbers of Trump's Low Approval Rating
Only 38% of Americans polled approve of the job that the president is doing. The results are from a Reuters/Ipsos four-day poll that ended on Monday, November 17. The findings were released on November 18. The online poll surveyed 1,017 U.S. adults from across the country. The poll organizers say that it has a margin of error of approximately three percentage points.
The survey detailed that Trump's overall approval has dipped by two percentage points since the last Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in early November. For context, Trump began his second term in office with an approval rating of 47%. The nine-point slide since January has sent his overall popularity to the lows seen during his first stint in the Oval Office. The 38% rating is also nearly as low as the bottom mark notched by former President Joe Biden. President Biden hit a low approval rating of 35%. In comparison, Trump's low mark during his first term was 33%.
Most concerning to the White House will be the fact that Trump is losing support among his biggest supporters. The new Reuters/Ipsos poll has Trump's approval rating among Republicans at 82%. This is down from 87% earlier in November.
This means that 62% of those polled are happy with the job. The president's approval ratings are slipping for a myriad of reasons, ranging from the back-and-forth of his position on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files to the rising cost of living and general economic performance.
Epstein File Release and Economy Biggest Obstacles for the President
At the heart of the opinions is the controversy surrounding the Epstein files. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to mandate that the Department of Justice (DOJ) release all of the unclassified records related to the investigation into Epstein. The disgraced financier died by suicide in August 2019 while serving a prison sentence for sex trafficking. Epstein has been linked to dozens of high-profile politicians and celebrities, including President Trump.
After passing the House, the Senate also pushed through the bill, sending it on to the president to sign. However, Trump has yet to take action on it.
What is curious to many people is that until this past weekend, Trump had been against releasing the documents. The president changed his position on Sunday, calling on his GOP colleagues to vote for the full release of the Epstein files. How this will change the president's approval rates will not be known until the next poll.
According to the recent poll, only 20% of those polled approve of how Trump is dealing with the Epstein case. Also of note is that 70% of the poll respondents said that they think the federal government is concealing information about Epstein's network. This number includes 87% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans.
The president's approval ratings are also being brought down by the economy, specifically the perception that he is not working hard enough to help everyday Americans with the rising cost of living. This issue was one of the key tenets of Trump's last campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris. Republican strategists cite the frustration of Americans with the administration every time they go to the grocery store and see the bill.
The new poll numbers reflect this sentiment about the skyrocketing inflation numbers. Only 26% of Americans believe that Trump is doing a good job at controlling the cost of living. This is down from 29% earlier in the month. Consumer prices continue to inch up, despite a weakening job market. Most concerning to Trump's team is that one in three Republicans disapproved of the president's performance on managing the cost of living.
Trump acknowledged the sliding poll numbers on Wednesday, November 19. During a speech at the 2025 U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, the president addressed the survey results when speaking to the media. Trump said that while his poll numbers just went down, "with smart people, they've gone way up."
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