New poll shows Trump's approval rating is underwater on nearly every issue

Yahoo

17-05-2025

President Donald Trump has returned to Washington, D.C. from the first state visit of his second term in office, with the White House hailing the supposed successes of his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
While the communications team has been highlighting how productive the tightly scheduled week was, the president nevertheless comes back to a slew of domestic issues to tackle, including his 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' currently stalled in committee in the House of Representatives.
He also returns to some poor approval ratings that his team will doubtless hope are lifted off the back of his trip.
The latest polling from Strength in Numbers/Verasight may make for some tough reading for President Trump, showing him underwater with American voters on every single issue, with the exception of border security.
According to the poll, 40 percent of people either strongly or somewhat approve of Trump's overall handling of the presidency, while 56 percent disapprove, split by the same modifiers, putting him 16 points underwater.
In terms of specific policy areas, Trump has a net minus 32-point rating on prices and inflation in the poll, and a minus 17-point net rating on jobs and the economy, areas in which he has historically had his highest marks.
Americans are also very dissatisfied with his approach to trade, putting him minus 21 points underwater.
Further, he scored minus 20 on government funding and social programs, and minus 17 on healthcare.
For foreign policy, he came out 16 points under, while in education and managing the federal government workforce, he is down minus 15 points and minus 12 points, respectively.
His tough stance on immigration and deportations also sees him down, minus two points and minus six points.
It's only on border security where Trump has a net positive approval rating of 10 points, with 52 percent approving of his record, and 42 percent disapproving.
The poll was conducted between May 1 and May 6 among 1,000 adults. It has a margin of error of 3.2 percent.
Politics is a fickle game, and there are still 17 months before the congressional midterm elections in 2026. A run of bad numbers could lead to a shift in policy by the administration, though currently there is a determination to press ahead and what appears to be a firm belief in that strategy.
In the same poll, respondents were asked if the election were held today, in a generic congressional ballot, would they vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate. It's a key question given that a shift in control could hinder or halt the Trump policy agenda.
While a sizeable chunk, 12 percent, said they did not know or weren't sure, 41 percent named the Republicans, and 47 percent opted for the Democrats, giving them a healthy lead.
This tracks with other polling data that generally report a Democratic advantage that could flip the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate.
While most polls give the Democrats a one or two percent lead, Newsnation's latest survey puts it at five percent, and Fox News at seven percent.
The RealClearPolitics polling average has the Democrats ahead by two percent, 45.5 percent to 43.5 percent in a generic congressional vote.