The latest reading on the trump approval rating is less about a single bad week and more about a pattern of erosion inside the very groups that once stabilized Donald Trump’s standing. In the newest Economist/YouGov Poll, Trump’s net job approval fell to a record low for the series, driven not only by broad national disapproval but by visible slippage among 2024 Trump voters, nonvoters, and Americans 65 and older—constituencies that can shift the political weather quickly when they move in the same direction.
Record-low net job approval: what the Economist/YouGov Poll shows
In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll, only 35% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 58% disapprove. That produces a net job approval of -23, described by the poll as the lowest net approval Trump has received in any Economist/YouGov Poll over his first or second terms.
The poll also places the current moment against prior low-water marks within the same polling series. It notes that in only one prior Economist/YouGov Poll have fewer than 35% approved of Trump’s job handling—34% in November 2017—and in only one prior poll have more than 58% disapproved—59% in February 2026.
For context within comparable points in other administrations, the poll states that at this point in Trump’s first term his net approval was -11, while at this point in Joe Biden’s term his net approval was -6. Those comparisons underscore the scale of the current net figure, even without assigning a single cause to the slide.
Where the decline is coming from: defections in core blocs
The most consequential detail for political strategists is not just that the trump approval rating is low nationally, but that the decline “in part reflects defections from his own supporters, ” as the poll frames it.
Three weeks ago, among people who voted for Trump in 2024, 84% approved of his job handling and 12% disapproved, for a net of +72. This week, that group stands at 76% approve versus 19% disapprove, for a net of +57. The direction is unambiguous: the president remains net-positive among his 2024 voters, but the cushion is thinning.
The poll adds another layer: the share of Trump’s 2024 voters who approve has fallen from 93% at the start of his term, to 84% three weeks ago, and now to 76%. Even without additional demographic breakdowns, those sequential points matter because they show movement inside a base that typically functions as a floor for overall approval.
Nonvoters show a similar arc. The poll notes that Trump’s decline in approval among nonvoters is similar, dropping to 25% from 43% at the start of the term. This is significant because nonvoters are often treated as politically dormant; a shift in their evaluations can signal broader sentiment changes even before it translates into turnout behavior.
Older Americans: a notable slide among voters 65 and older
The Economist/YouGov Poll also identifies a record low in Trump’s job approval for his second term among Americans 65 and older. In that group, 40% approve of Trump’s job handling and 57% disapprove, resulting in a net of -17. The poll describes this as down from a net job approval of -1 at the start of Trump’s second term.
From an analytical perspective, this is a distinct kind of warning light. The poll does not specify why older Americans shifted, and the data in the provided results do not identify a single triggering event. Still, the magnitude of change—from near parity to a double-digit negative net—suggests that any effort to rebuild the trump approval rating cannot focus only on energizing loyalists; it must also contend with skepticism among older Americans who may evaluate job performance differently over time.
It also complicates the idea that poor approval is solely a function of opposition-party disapproval. The poll’s own emphasis on defections and subgroup deterioration points to a broader compression: disapproval is not only high overall, but approval is weakening where it once held steady.
Why this matters right now: the strategic meaning of a shrinking “approval floor”
These findings matter because net job approval is not merely a snapshot of national mood; it is also a measure of how stable a governing coalition is at a given moment. The poll’s results show both:
Fact: Net job approval is -23 with 35% approving and 58% disapproving in this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll.
Fact: Approval among 2024 Trump voters fell from 93% at the start of the term to 76% now, with a notable step-down over the past three weeks.
Fact: Nonvoter approval dropped to 25% from 43% at the start of the term.
Fact: Americans 65 and older now register a net job approval of -17, down from -1 at the start of the second term.
Analysis: When approval softens across core supporters, nonvoters, and older Americans at the same time, it can narrow the administration’s margin for error. The poll does not indicate what policy area is driving attitudes, but it does indicate a widening gap between the president’s current standing and earlier points in both his own first term and Biden’s term at similar stages.
In that sense, the latest reading is not just another headline number. It raises a more fundamental question: can the White House rebuild the trump approval rating by regaining ground among 2024 Trump voters and older Americans, or has the “floor” itself shifted lower for the remainder of this polling cycle?
