‘More and more disenchanted’: A final check-in on Trump’s economic approval ratings before midterms

President Trump’s economic approval ratings are hovering at second-term lows, with inflation worries the central headwind for the president and his party as the midterm elections loom.

A raft of recent polls underscores this reality: Trump’s low overall approval ratings are being dragged down by economic sentiment that is even lower.

A new national poll released on Sunday by NBC News found that a majority of Republicans — 53% — say they are dissatisfied with the state of the economy.

And inflation remains the top-of-mind issue, with only about 25.3% of voters approving of Trump’s handling of inflation versus 69.5% who disapprove, according to an average of recent polls calculated on Sunday by forecaster Nate Silver.

Another tabulation from RealClearPolitics this past weekend showed a 70.4% disapproval rating of the president’s handling of prices, which voters often say is their top issue.

Deep voter dissatisfaction is evident on other financial issues like tariffs and taxes. The president is facing a negative net rating of -29.7% on trade and -31.1% on the economy overall, according to Silver, with this economic drag outpacing Trump’s overall net approval rating of -22.6%.

As Ipsos summarized their results this past week, “American consumers have grown more and more disenchanted with the economy and the Trump administration,” noting that disapproval of Trump’s handling of the economy has nearly doubled since his inauguration and remains the No. 1 issue for voters.

“All that spells trouble for Republicans across the nation on Tuesday,” the pollsters concluded.

Economic dissatisfaction with both Trump and his party

Democrats, meanwhile, are hitting new highs ahead of the election even as voters often give the opposition party mixed marks overall.

Those results are being fueled by respondents who listed inflation as their top issue. In a Focaldata-Financial Times poll this past week, 47% of respondents said Democrats would do a better job handling that issue versus 34% who said the same about Republicans. 

One possible glimmer of hope for Republicans in that data: 20% of voters say they are either unsure or that neither party would do a better job.

The data for the GOP has become so challenging that some results show voters are inclined to dismiss Republicans’ record on taxes, an issue that historically has been a strength and a centerpiece of Trump’s economic agenda over the last two years.

“I signed the Great Big Beautiful Bill, delivering the largest tax cuts in American history, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security,” the president said Thursday in South Carolina.

Yet a recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found Democrats hold a seven-point edge on taxes.

The president has dismissed polls that show his party crosswise with voters on the economy as fake. During a recent rally in Mississippi, he predicted victory for Republicans ​based on what he called a booming economy.

A continuation of second-term lows for Trump

Economic issues have been a dominant negative in Trump’s ratings all year, a complete turnabout from his first term when the economy often lifted his overall ratings.

And some rankings appear to be hitting new lows at exactly the wrong time for the party.

A poll this past week from the The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll found that Trump’s approval ratings in October on inflation, tariffs, and the economy were all his lowest of the year, with just 27% of respondents saying the economy is on the right track.

The negative feelings are even reaching into Trump’s base, the data has repeatedly shown.

The weekend’s NBC poll found that 3 in 4 voters were dissatisfied with the state of the economy and 50% called for “a great deal” of change, which NBC said was a new high in its polling.

A recent Politico poll also found that Trump’s supporters are likely to say the biggest failure of his second term is failing to address cost-of-living issues. Of self-identified Trump voters, 54% said cost of living remains their top issue, and many laid the problems at Trump’s feet.

The two causes that respondents who voted for Trump in 2024 said “best explain” current high gas prices were Trump’s war in Iran and his tariffs. 

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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