One-third of voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2024 think his presidency is going worse than expected, according to a new poll — a worrying sign for Republicans as they try to save the party’s congressional majorities ahead of next month’s election.
The survey from the center-left Democratic think tank Third Way found that the share of Trump voters who thought things were going worse than expected had swelled from 22% in their April survey to 33% in September, when the new poll was conducted.
Overall, 56% of all voters in the survey said they thought Trump’s presidency was going worse than expected. Just 16% of them said it was going better than they thought it would.
The poll’s results are part of a flurry of public opinion data showing Trump’s poor standing with the electorate, with some surveys showing his approval ratings slipping to the mid-30s. The president’s popularity has been a major issue in this year’s election, which has seen GOP candidates on the defensive in House and Senate seats once deemed safely Republican.
Trending
Third Way’s survey leaves little doubt about the primary reason for Trump’s sagging approval ratings: the economy. Ninety percent of voters in the survey say the country is experiencing high inflation; another 55% of voters say the country is in a recession.
The survey is Third Way’s fifth installment of its Signal series, which officials with the group have designed to help guide the Democratic Party’s messaging both before and after the midterm election.
In addition to worrying news for Republicans, the latest poll also contains a warning for Democrats who hope a Democratic-controlled Congress aggressively confronts the president. Twenty-seven percent of voters think Democrats “should prioritize investigating Trump for misconduct and impeaching the president if he has broken the law,” the poll found, while 68% said Democrats should “prioritize bringing down costs for the American people, not investigations and impeachment.”
The survey also found much broader support for policies like auditing the federal government than implementing single-payer health care, a favorite of progressives.
The poll surveyed 2,000 registered voters from Sept. 17 through Sept. 24. It was conducted by the Democratic polling firm GBAO.
Author
