Trump disapproval rating soars to 62% in USA Today poll

By Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

President Trump’s disapproval rating hit 62 percent in a new USA Today survey, the highest mark of his second term.

The number tops his previous record of 59 percent set during the 2019 government shutdown.

The poll lands as Trump pushes mass deportations and tariff threats into his 16th month back in office. Republicans who once dismissed early-term turbulence now concede the bleeding has lasted too long to blame on transition pains.

White House aides spent Wednesday briefing Senate Republicans on plans to expand the trade war to European steel. Senator Thom Tillis told reporters the room stayed “substantially quiet” when Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro predicted 4 percent growth despite retaliatory tariffs. “Everyone’s heard these numbers before,” Tillis said. “The question is when voters start punishing us.”

Congressional Democrats seized on the findings. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scheduled a Thursday vote on a non-binding resolution condemning Trump’s threat to impose 20 percent duties on all EU imports. The measure lacks force but will force Republicans to go on record weeks before the Easter recess and angry town-hall season begins.

The White House rejected the survey as another outlier. “They sampled too many college campuses,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. She produced an internal campaign memo claiming registered voters split 48-48 on the president’s performance. The memo did not explain methodology or sample size.

Tariffs aren’t the only drag. The poll found 57 percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, a signature issue that delivered him battleground states last November. Images of shackled migrants aboard C-17 cargo planes have dominated cable coverage for three weeks. Even Fox hosts have asked why commercial flights were not used.

Independent voters drove the spike. The bloc that handed Trump Arizona and Georgia now disapproves 61-34, a 15-point swing since January. Among suburban women, disapproval reached 66 percent, matching Democratic intensity levels. GOP pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson warned on Twitter that “suburban moms don’t cheer when you cancel foreign aid for school lunches.”

Republican strategists note the president still polls above 80 percent within his party, insulating him from a primary challenge. But donors are worried. Five bundled contributions under $200 fell 19 percent last month compared with the same period in 2025. One finance chair, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said major givers want “a pivot to kitchen-table optimism by Memorial Day or we write checks to protect the House only.”

Background

Trump entered the White House on January 20, 2025, with a 47 percent approval rating, the lowest restart number for any ex-president returning to office. His first term produced record highs of 49 percent approval but never crossed 50 in aggregated polling. The previous disapproval benchmark came during a 35-day government closure that left airport security lines snaking through terminals and federal food inspections curtailed.

The ex-president regained power by flipping Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin, states he lost in 2020. Each contest was decided by fewer than 40,000 votes, giving Trump an electoral college majority while drawing a narrower popular vote margin than in 2016. Analysts at the time credited frustration with inflation, chaos at the southern border and fatigue with Democratic warnings about democracy rather than broad personal affection.

What’s Next

Trump travels Friday to a Boeing plant in South Carolina where he will announce a 25 percent tariff on Airbus parts, escalating the trans-Atlantic standoff. Republican senators expect a floor vote next week on a bipartisan bill requiring congressional approval for any tariffs above 15 percent on national security grounds, setting up the first potential veto confrontation of the new term.