As the Economy Tumbles, so Does Trump's Approval Rate

President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 40 percent, lower than all other presidents at this point in their terms, new polling released by Pew Research Center on Wednesday shows. Americans want Trump to govern less by executive order, listen to the courts, and don’t like tariffs.

Trump is losing ground with people on the fence. From February to April, his approval rating fell from 88 percent to 75 percent among people who supported him in the 2024 election but “not strongly,” and from 44 percent to 31 percent among nonvoters.

Of course, partisans will be partisans, and Trump polls just as well with Republicans (and badly with Democrats) as you would expect. But there’s also been some unexpected movement, especially when it comes to the economy and trade. The poll was conducted from April 7 to April 13, at a time when the Trump administration was frantically announcing and canceling trade tariffs.

Perhaps most worrying for the Trump camp, 49 percent of Americans overall said that his policies were making the economy weaker compared to the Biden administration. In 2021, a plurality of Americans said that President Joe Biden’s policies were making the economy stronger compared to the last Trump administration. 

The economic chaos from tariffs is clearly wearing on Trump’s own supporters. Republican confidence in Trump’s ability to “make good decisions about the economy” fell from 92 percent at inauguration to 80 percent now. A majority of Republicans still said they approved of tariffs, but Republican support was not as strong as for other policies, with 29 percent disapproving.

The polling was not all good news from a libertarian perspective, however. A majority of Americans said that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts to federal agencies were too careless and would make the government worse at meeting people’s needs. Of course, part of the problem is DOGE’s own false promises, chaotic methods, and shady behaviors.

Trump’s crackdown on immigration is also one of the more popular parts of his agenda. A slim majority of Americans (52 percent) said they were confident Trump would make the right decision about immigration policy, higher than the 43 percent who said so in 2019. Some of that growth came from Democrats, a sign of the anti-immigrant vibe shift in the country. Asked what they like most about the Trump administration, 20 percent said immigration actions, more than any other issue.

On the other hand, a supermajority of Americans (78 percent) said that Trump must obey if a court rules that his actions are illegal. It was a larger consensus than on any other issue. And courts have been ruling against Trump’s immigration actions, such as invoking the Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelans and sending immigrants such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador. On Friday, the FBI arrested a judge for allegedly blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from her courtroom.

Overall, Americans seem to like stability, predictability, and the rule of law, whether it’s about the economy or other issues. They don’t like disruption or one-man rule.

A slim majority (51 percent) of Americans also said that Trump was doing too much by executive order, including 20 percent of Republicans. And on the question about what Americans like most about Trump, one answer beat immigration: “Nothing.”

The post As the Economy Tumbles, so Does Trump’s Approval Rate appeared first on Reason.com.