As the shutdown drags on and President Trump makes news on a variety of other fronts, a trio of new polls find the president’s disapproval ratings climbing to new highs and offer reason for Republicans to be concerned.
- CNN: The poll, conducted by SSRS, found that 37% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s performance as president and 63% disapprove — topping the 62% disapproval rating he received in January 2021.
- NBC News: Forty-three percent approve, 55% disapprove. More than half in the NBC survey, 52%, had a negative view of Trump, compared to 40% who had positive feelings about him.
- Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos: Forty-one percent approve, 59% disapprove, again the highest disapproval rating in a Post-ABC poll since January 2021, shortly after the attack on the Capitol. Among independents, Trump’s disapproval came in at 69%.
Bearing most of the blame for the shutdown: The NBC News poll found that 52% of voters blame Trump and congressional Republicans for the government shutdown, while 42% blame Democrats in Congress and 4% blame both sides. But each party’s supporters blame the other side for the shutdown, perhaps hardening their stances in the standoff. “Each party could look at this data and say, ‘Let’s not blink,’” Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, told NBC News.
Disappointing on the economy: The CNN poll found that 68% of adults said things are going badly in the country. While 47% called the economy and the cost of living the most important issue facing the country today, 72% called the economy somewhat or very poor. More than 60% said Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, up from 51% in March.
Similarly, just over six in 10 respondents in the NBC News poll said the country is on the wrong track, up from 54% in March. And about two-thirds of voters in that poll say that Trump has fallen short of expectations when it comes to the economy, inflation and looking out for the middle class.
The Post-ABC survey found that 67% of voters said the country is on the wrong track and 62% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy. More than half of voters said the economy has gotten worse since Trump returned to office, compared with 27% who said it has gotten better. Nearly two-thirds disapprove of Trump’s signature economic policy, his imposition of tariffs.
But Democrats don’t fare well, either: Only 28% in the NBC poll said they have a positive view of Democrats, while 53% were negative. More than one in five Democrats said they view the party negatively. And the percentage of voters blaming Democrats for the shutdown in the NBC survey was higher than in previous shutdowns over the last 30 years.
The Post-ABC poll found that 68% said the Democratic Party is out of touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today, higher than the 63% who said the same about Trump and 61% who felt that way about the Republican Party.
The Republican Party was also underwater, but by a smaller 37%-46% margin. Overall, 57% of voters said they would vote to replace every single member of Congress, including their own representatives.
The CNN survey was from October 27-30 among 1,245 respondents. The overall margin of sampling error is 3.1 percentage points. The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from October 24-28. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The Post-ABC poll surveyed 2,725 adults online, also from October 24-28, and has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.