38% approve, 58% disapprove, 4% not sure

 

LONDON, 08 March. - (ANA) - In the US President Donald Trump’s state-of-the-union speech on February 24th, he boasted that America had made a “turnaround for the ages”. The president’s net approval rating—which fell this week to -19—suggests that Americans are not persuaded.

 

The polling was conducted mostly after the Trump administration had launched an aerial assault, with Israel, on Iran. Early surveys suggest the war is unpopular. According to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted a week before the first strikes, just 27% of Americans favoured an attack, writes the London-based Economist. 

 

But the president’s handling of domestic policy is also dragging him down. Americans are especially unhappy about the way the Trump administration has carried out its crackdown on immigration. Democrats are blocking funding of the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for immigration enforcement. 

 

The government has been partially shut down since February 14th.

 

Americans are also worried about prices. Though Mr Trump’s net approval rating on this issue has risen from -34 in October to -24, it is still negative. That might change when tax cuts approved by the president take effect and jumbo-sized refund cheques start arriving in post boxes after tax-filing season ends in April. Or these giveaways might drive up inflation, angering Americans more.

 

Using YouGov’s data, The Economist has projected Mr Trump’s approval rating state by state. As you might expect, approval of Mr Trump is lowest in states that tend to vote for Democrats and highest in those that tend to vote for Republicans. Mr Trump’s voters still overwhelmingly approve of his performance as president. But the projection also shows how dissatisfaction with Mr Trump is widespread even in states that voted for him in 2024. The numbers will make anxious reading for Republicans facing competitive races in this year’s midterm elections.

 

As with other Republican politicians before him, white and male voters are among the most likely to approve of Mr Trump’s job performance, while younger voters and members of ethnic minorities are among the most strongly disapproving. People who have the most education—college graduates and postgrads—are least likely to support Mr Trump. Voters of pension age, normally a solidly Republican bloc, are also surprisingly lukewarm on the president.

 

Some political issues disproportionately concern political partisans. Immigration is a key issue for Mr Trump’s Republican base, as are taxes and government spending. Democrats are more worried about health care and climate change. The chart above shows the most important issues among American adults and members of each party.

 

Karl Marx said that men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please. That goes for Mr Trump as much as for anyone else. Public opinion in Mr Trump’s first term came to be dominated by concern about health care, especially after the outbreak of covid-19. The economic effects of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made inflation a defining issue of Mr Biden’s presidency. The chart above shows which issues have been most important to American adults since 2017, based on weekly survey data from YouGov.    - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/08 March 2026 - - -