A New Poll Has Some Warning Signs for Trump Ahead of the Midterms
A New Poll Has Some Warning Signs for Trump Ahead of the Midterms
Tess Bonn Mon, August 31, 2026 at 7:33 PM UTC
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A New Poll Has Some Warning Signs for Trump Ahead of the Midterms
Americans aren't particularly happy with President Trump right now — and a new poll shows just how widespread that dissatisfaction has become.
A new national survey from the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump's job performance. And while dissatisfaction with the president is hardly new, the results suggest it's stretching across some of the issues that helped propel him back to the White House, including the economy and immigration.
Those numbers could have real consequences for Republicans in November, according to Tatishe Nteta, a political science professor at UMass Amherst and director of the poll.
“With the midterm elections just two months away, the clock is ticking for President Trump and the Republican Party to offer solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems,” Nteta said in a release. "A failure to do so will likely result not only in a continued decline in the President’s approval rating but could also put Republican control of the House of Representatives and possibly the U.S. Senate increasingly at risk.”
To better understand Trump's status, we're diving into the most surprising findings.
Trump's approval rating remains deeply underwater
The latest UMass Amherst Poll, conducted Aug. 21-26, shows that Trump’s overall job approval has dropped to 32 percent, with disapproval of his performance now reaching 64 percent.
That's down only slightly from March, when his approval stood at 33 percent. But zoom out further and the decline becomes clearer: In July 2025, 38 percent of Americans approved of Trump's performance.
The dissatisfaction extends across several major issues. Seventy-five percent of Americans say Trump isn't handling inflation well, while 68 percent give him poor marks on the war in Iran. Majorities also say he isn't doing a good job handling government corruption (67 percent) or jobs (63 percent).
Then there's immigration. Fifty-nine percent say Trump isn't handling the issue well, compared with 37 percent who say he is. That's particularly notable because immigration has long been one of Trump's signature political issues.
Americans are souring on the Iran war
The poll finds widespread disappointment with the conflict six months in.
Fifty-four percent of Americans disapprove of U.S. military actions against Iran, compared with 26 percent who approve.
Americans also don't seem convinced the war is accomplishing what it set out to do. Just 23 percent believe it's making the U.S. safer, 31 percent think it will prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 26 percent believe it will make the world more stable. Overall, 55 percent say the war was a mistake.
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But one of the most striking findings may be how Americans believe the conflict is affecting them at home. Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, calls the findings nothing short of a “political disaster” for Trump.
A whopping 80 percent say the war has increased the cost of gas and groceries — a view that cuts across party lines. That includes 88 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of independents, and 75 percent of Republicans. Even among the most committed MAGA Republicans, 69 percent agree. That's potentially significant heading into an election where affordability is already top of mind for voters.
Are cracks forming in Trump's coalition?
Trump still maintains strong support among Republicans, but the poll suggests that support isn't as solid as it once was.
Seventy-five percent of Republicans currently approve of his job performance. That's down from 89 percent in April 2025 — a 14-point decline. Approval among people who voted for Trump in 2024 has also fallen over the longer term, dropping from 87 percent in April 2025 to 77 percent today.
The survey found another potentially telling shift: Some Trump voters are having second thoughts about their 2024 choice.
Twenty-one percent now express some reservations about their vote, while 16 percent say they would change their vote if they could do it over again. And the share who say they're "very confident" they made the right choice has fallen from 74 percent in April 2025 to 58 percent today.
“This is hardly a mass exodus from the Trump tent, but is enough that it certainly could’ve been decisive against Trump in what was a relatively close 2024 election,” Alexander Theodoridis, associate professor of political science and co-director of the UMass Poll, said of the findings.
What could this mean for the midterms?
Trump won't be on the ballot this November, but his standing with voters could still matter for the Republicans who are.
Midterm elections have historically been difficult for the president's party, and Republicans are trying to defend narrow majorities while voters remain frustrated about the economy and other major issues.
The UMass survey doesn't measure which party voters currently plan to support for Congress, so it can't tell us who is ahead in the midterm race. But it does offer a snapshot of the political environment Republicans will be running in: A president with a 32 percent approval rating, broad dissatisfaction with his handling of several major issues, and some signs of weakening support among the voters who helped put him back in office.
With two months left until Election Day, there's still time for those numbers — and the political landscape — to change.
The post A New Poll Has Some Warning Signs for Trump Ahead of the Midterms appeared first on Katie Couric Media.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
