Even Trump’s supporters are losing confidence as his approval plunges to 30%

Donald Trump has plenty of critics. That’s hardly breaking news. What’s more unusual is when some of his staunch supporters start feeling less optimistic about his presidency.

A new poll suggests that confidence in the US economy has weakened even among Americans who generally approve of the president and voted for him.

One of the most striking figures in the survey isn’t Trump’s approval rating at all…

Back in February 2025, 46% of Trump’s supporters believed the economy would improve over the following year. Today, that figure stands at just 13%. That’s some drop.

For a president who has spent much of his political career presenting himself as the guy who knows how money works, that’s not an especially encouraging trend.

The survey, conducted by the American Research Group between June 16 and June 20, found that just 30% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in office, while 66% – a full two thirds of those asked – disapprove.

If 30% sounds low, that’s because it is. The figure represents the lowest approval rating recorded by the pollster during Trump’s second term.

One poll doesn’t tell the whole story, of course. The good news for Trump is that most other national surveys place him a tiny bit higher than that.

The less good news is that they all tend to point in broadly the same direction, with significantly more Americans disapproving of his performance than approving.

Things become even trickier when the conversation turns to the economy. Trump’s supposed trump card.

What do Americans think of Trump’s handling of the US economy?

According to the survey, just 26% approve of Trump’s handling of economic issues, while 70% disapprove. For comparison, the same pollster recorded a 41% economic approval rating for Trump in June 2018 during his first term.

That’s the very real challenge facing the White House at the moment. Voters might disagree about almost everything else, but plenty appear to agree on one thing: they aren’t feeling particularly upbeat about the economy.

Only 6% of respondents said that they thought that the economy is getting better. Meanwhile, 73% replied saying it’s getting worse. Those aren’t exactly the sort of numbers that inspire a national outbreak of celebratory bunting. Or the now (in)famous Trump dance.

The news for POTUS doesn’t get better in terms of projections, either. The outlook for next year is even gloomier. Just 7% think the economy will improve over the next 12 months, while three-quarters expect things to deteriorate even further.

That pessimism isn’t confined to debates about inflation charts, GDP figures or whatever else stuffy economist types enjoy discussing with one another. It’s showing up in people’s day-to-day lives too.

Nearly seven in 10 Americans described their own financial situation as ‘bad’, ‘very bad’ or ‘terrible’. Meanwhile, 73% said their household finances are getting worse and 68% believe they’ll be worse off a year from now.

Then there’s the recession question. A quite striking 65% of respondents said that they believe the United States is already in a recession, compared with 19% who disagreed.

Whether the economists, analysts and various people on television would all sign off on that description is a separate discussion. What’s clear is that a lot of Americans already feel as though they’re living through one.

The most intriguing figures in the survey, however, come from Trump’s supporters.

When Trump returned to the White House, many of his backers were optimistic that the economy would improve. In February 2025, 46% expected conditions to get better over the following year.

The figures look very different today…

Among Americans who approve of Trump’s performance, only 13% believe that the economy will improve under him over the next year. By contrast, 59% think it will get worse.

That doesn’t mean Trump’s supporters have suddenly swapped their MAGA hats for Democratic campaign leaflets. What it does suggest is that confidence in the economy has weakened even among people who continue to back the president.

The White House has brushed aside the findings. Spokesman Davis Ingle argued that the ‘ultimate poll’ was the 2024 presidential election, pointing to the fact that Trump received nearly 80 million votes.

Ingle also said that the administration’s policies are producing results and that ‘this is just the beginning’ as Trump’s agenda continues to take effect.

The American Research Group survey sits at the lower end of recent polling on Trump. Other national trackers generally place his approval rating somewhere in the high 30s rather than at 30%.

Even so, the broader picture looks all rather familiar. Polling averages compiled by The New York Times currently place Trump on 39% approval and 59% disapproval, while CNN’s average of major recent surveys puts him on 37% approval and 61% disapproval.

Reuters/Ipsos, AP-NORC, YouGov and several other pollsters have reported similar patterns in recent months. The exact numbers vary. But the conclusions stay pretty much the same.

Trump has never been the sort of politician who spends huge amounts of time worrying about what opinion polls think of him. Even so, these latest figures contain a pretty clear message.

It’s one thing when your opponents are gloomy about the economy. It’s rather less comfortable when some of your supporters are starting to feel that way too.