3 weeks ago
26
A barrage of public polling released over the last several days shows that President Donald Trump's standing is in free fall, as Americans turn away from his dictatorial actions, his cruelty toward immigrants, his domestic agenda of slashing the social safety net to fund tax cuts for the rich, and his economic destruction.
According to The New York Times polling average, just 44% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job—a number that's fallen since Trump deployed the military in Los Angeles, ramped up deportations against undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for years, and pushed his "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that strips Medicaid and food stamps from millions of Americans.
And each new poll has even worse news for Trump than the last.
Protesters wear shirts that read, “Hands off! Medicaid” on May 13.An Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday found that 48% of adults disapprove of Trump sending the National Guard to Los Angeles protests against ICE raids. Similarly, a plurality of 43% views the Trump administration's response to the Los Angeles protests as too aggressive, and just 25% view the response as “about right."
That same poll found that ICE's approval rating is under water, with 47% viewing the agency unfavorably and 42% viewing it favorably. That’s a major shift from last week’s Economist/YouGov’s poll, which found that 45% had a favorable view of ICE and 43% had an unfavorable view.
Considering that immigration is supposed to be one of Trump’s strongest issues, the fact that his ICE raids and response to anti-ICE protests are unpopular should be a flashing red warning sign for the GOP.
But the numbers only get worse from there.
Trump’s current internal debate about whether to get involved with Israel’s war on Iran could also be disastrous for his approval rating.
The Economist/YouGov poll also found that 60% of adults don’t want the U.S. military to get involved in the conflict, including 53% of Republicans.
And multiple polls released Tuesday show that Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” which is supposed to be his signature domestic policy achievement and what the GOP plans to run on in the 2026 midterms.
A protester stands before a line of National Guard protecting a federal building in Los Angeles on June 9.A Washington Post survey released Tuesday found that just 23% of Americans support the bill and 42% are opposed. Even worse for Republicans: The bill's approval fares even worse among people who have "heard a great deal or a good amount" about it, with 64% opposed compared to 33% in support.
A KFF Health poll found similar results, with 64% of Americans viewing the legislation unfavorably.
That means that Democrats' plan to blanket midterm airwaves with ads about the bill and GOP lawmakers' support of it could help sink Republicans in 2026.
Even worse for Trump and the GOP is that those two polls were conducted before Senate Republicans released changes to the House-passed version of the bill that would make even more draconian cuts to Medicaid.
“The amount of disapproval for this bill, holy cow, my goodness gracious,” CNN polling analyst Harry Enten said on Tuesday.
“We’re talking about a -41 net favorability rating among independents in the center of the electorate. You rarely ever see pieces of legislation or proposed pieces of legislation as unpopular as this,” he added.
Enten also pointed out that the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” is even more unpopular than the tax cut legislation Republicans ran on in 2017, which helped Democrats gain control of the House a year later.
“It may be a big, beautiful bill for Democrats if it passes, because they’ll have a big, beautiful night come midterm night of 2026,” Enten concluded.
When Trump won in 2024, Democrats were despondent, feeling lost in the wilderness with no path back.
But as Trump's chaos threatens Americans' economic livelihoods and constitutional rights, political gravity finally appears to be kicking in.
Campaign Action