President Donald Trump scored the lowest voter approval rating of any president during the midterm elections, according to the latest exit polls.
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Trump → score → polls
Trump’s job approval rating sits at 38 percent, according to a CBS News exit poll, down from 45 percent in the 2018 midterms during his first term.
It’s also lower than the 44 percent that Joe Biden received in 2022 and the 44 percent that Barack Obama received in 2010.
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Obama → sit → 2010
Even George W. Bush, who was in the midst of his “War on Terror” in the 2006 midterms, received a better approval rating than Trump at 43 percent.
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who → receive → percent
An NBC News exit poll found that 43 percent of respondents said that their vote against Republicans was a rebuke of Trump’s policies.
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vote → find → policies
The damming numbers come as Democrats swept the GOP nationwide to win majorities in both houses.
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Democrats → dam → houses
The findings signaled growing weariness over his aggressive use of tariffs and continued unhappiness with the war with Iran.
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findings → signal → Iran
In a separate poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research prior to Election Day, only 17% of U.S. adults approved of Trump's handling of the cost of living.
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% → approve → living
Overall approval of the Republican president on the economy slipped to 26%, a new low.
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approval → slip → %
A majority of U.S. adults, 65%, blamed Trump's policies for persistently high costs more than factors outside of his control.
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majority → blame → control
Democrats held surprise leads in red states on the eve of voting
The Democratic Party’s Senate candidates lead their GOP counterparts in several key battleground states on the eve of voting, including Texas and Alaska, where the president won comfortably in 2024, according to the latest New York Times polling.
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president → hold → polling
Trump hit the campaign trail with an aggressive rally schedule, asking voters to pretend that he is on the ballot as he tries to bolster turnout.
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he → hit → turnout
Despite that, Trump lamented that his party would have won if he had been on the ballot.
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he → lament → ballot
Even so, he remains deeply unpopular, with even many Republicans faulting him for failing to deliver on promised relief.
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Republicans → remain → relief
“I was hoping it would be better or different, but it’s not really good,” said Robert Gault, 66, a retired factory worker from Bradford, Pennsylvania, who describes himself as a Republican.
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who → hop → Republican
“Our president, I thought, was going to help the country, and so far he has not really seemed to have done that with the economy or in general.
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he → think → general
He said, ‘Make America Great Again.’
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America → say → ?
And I have not seen him do that.”
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him → see → that
Trump’s rating dropped to 32% as voters favor Democrats on the economy
A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week showed Trump's overall rating at 32% heading into the midterms.
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poll → drop → midterms
The survey showed registered voters favoring Democrats over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 47% to 36%, with the lead holding among likely voters at 53% to 44%.
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lead → show → 44
The congressional race has turned sharply on inflation after February military strikes on Iran drove fuel prices higher.
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strikes → turn → prices
In the poll, 73% of voters said their cost of living was heading in the wrong direction.
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cost → say → direction
Voters now favor Democrats over Republicans as better economic stewards by 37% to 33%, while 46% of Democrats report high enthusiasm to vote compared with just 30% of Republicans.
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% → favor → Republicans
Trump's current approval on the economy marks a 14-percentage-point drop from March 2025, just after he took office for the second time.
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he → mark → time
Much of the 2024 campaign saw Trump hammer Democrats on inflation and promise to lower prices.
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Trump → see → prices
Rising food and gas prices trigger widespread buyer's remorse, even among Trump voters
About 7 in 10 Americans say Trump's handling of the cost of living has been “worse than expected.”
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handling → rise → living
That figure includes roughly half of Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now disapprove of his handling of the issue.
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10 → include → issue
Over recent months, Americans have grown more worried about affording basics like groceries and gas, with roughly half of U.S. adults saying they are “extremely” or "very" concerned about both.
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they → grow → both
Just the cost of everything is going up as a result of fuel,” said Pedro Sanchez, 52, of Perris, California, a law enforcement worker who voted for Trump.
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who → go → Trump
“I used to have a lot more disposable income.
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I → use → income
I don’t have that anymore.
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I → have → that
It’s gotten eaten up because of all these increases in the cost of everything.”
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It → eat → everything
Bethany Lnenicka, 41, who operates a small farm in Fairfax, Iowa, voted for Trump three times and hoped his second term would match his first.
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term → operate → first
“Groceries are just like kind of out of control,” she said.
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she → say → control
“It seems like everything is going up...
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everything → seem → ?
And of course your income doesn’t go up.”
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income → go → course
Kristen Slaven, 41, a therapist in Gluckstadt, Mississippi, who typically votes Republican, agreed: “It definitely doesn’t feel like we have trended in the right direction.
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we → vote → direction
Obviously, wars don’t help... but our focus on renaming bodies of water and pieces of land, that’s just stupid to me when people can’t feed their family.”
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people → help → family
The Aporia
