The popularity of United States President Donald Trump might be dwindling as his approval ratings have taken a dip, according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos which concluded on Monday. According to the results, 42 per cent of people who participated in the polls approved of his presidential performance so far during his second term.
This is Trump’s worst approval rating so far since January 2025. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted three weeks earlier, his approval rating was 43 per cent and and 47 per cent during the same poll conducted hours after his presidential inauguration in January.
However, Trump’s approval ratings still remain largely higher than Biden’s throughout the latter’s presidency, the Reuters report said. But the dip in the ratings do hint at growing discomfort among Americans regarding his harsh policies and efforts to expand his powers.
What is making Trump’s approval ratings dip?
As soon as Trump took office in January this year for his second term, he signed several executive orders within hours, delivering on many promises he made during his presidential campaign. The streak of extreme stances and signing executive orders have continued till now, with many of them being blocked by federal courts across the US.
Many of Trump’s executive orders seek to expand his power and influence in both government departments and over private institutions such as universities and law firms.
{{/usCountry}}Many of Trump’s executive orders seek to expand his power and influence in both government departments and over private institutions such as universities and law firms.
{{/usCountry}}The new approval ratings come amid Trump’s growing tensions with universities which don’t comply with his way of thinking. He also installed himself as the board chair of the Kennedy Center, which is a major theater and cultural institution in Washington. Moves such as these may not be sitting well with Americans, suggest polls.
What do poll respondents say?
Out of the 4,306 people who participated in the polls, which had an error margin of up to 2 percentage points, around 83 per cent believed that Trump must comply with federal court rulings. Some 57 per cent respondents, out of which one-third were Republicans, disagreed with the statement that "it's okay for a US president to withhold funding from universities if the president doesn’t agree with how the university is run," the Reuters report said.
Some 66 per cent of respondents were against the idea of Trump taking control of cultural institutions like theaters and museums.
One of Trump’s largest areas of support is his immigration policies. However, even in that area, only 45 per cent of the people approved of his actions and performance while 46 per cent people were dissatisfied with it.
On other issues as well, such as inflation and taxation, more respondents disagreed with Trump’s performance than those who approved of it. The majority of the respondents, around 59 per cent, believed that the US was losing global credibility.
Trump has also expressed desire to run for a third term, although he constitutionally can not. However, three-quarters of the respondents did not want him to. This sentiment was largely seen in Republicans respondents too, 53 per cent of which said that Trump should not go for a third term.
With Reuters inputs.