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President Donald Trump is coming off a "bad week" for his job approval rating, according to famed polling expert Nate Silver in the latest edition of his Silver Bulletin Substack released on Sunday (September 28).
Trump was reported to have a -9.4 net approval rating on Sunday, having started the previous week with a -7.5 average and dropped to as low as -10.0, which was tied for the lowest of his second term.
"This has been a bad week for Trump when it comes to the polls. He began the week with a net approval rating of -7.5 in the Silver Bulletin average. He’s sitting at -9.4 as of today, but his net approval fell all the way to -10.0 (essentially tied for his second term low) earlier in the week. Is this the beginning of a downward trend? Is the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live the event that’ll finally result in some real movement in Trump's approval rating? It’s hard to say for sure. Why? Because many of the polls released late this week came from pollsters who consistently give Trump a lower than average approval rating.
"But whatever the reason, the share of Americans who strongly disapprove of the job Trump is doing is also back up to its second term high of 43.4 percent. For comparison, only 26.1 percent of Americans strongly approve of Trump. But on the other hand, Trump’s net approval rating on the four issues we track hasn’t moved much at all this week. He’s at -5.3 on immigration, -15.6 on the economy, -17.3 on trade, and -30.0 on the cost of living."
Trump's approval rating was reported to have dropped once again as more Americans grew worried about the economy, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week. The survey showed only 41% of respondents approved Trump's overall job performance as president, a decrease from the 47% reported when he took office in January, as well as the 42% reported during the September 9 poll.
An estimated 54% of respondents said the economy was on the wrong track, which was higher than the 53% reported in the August poll and the 52% reported in the July poll. Only 35% of respondents approved Trump's economic performance, while just 28% approved his handling of the cost of living, both of which were lower than previous polls.
The president made the fixing the economy a key talking point of his 2024 campaign, but U.S. job growth was reported to have weakened in August as unemployment rose to a nearly four-year high at 4.3%. Trump's approval rating for American satisfaction is reported to be at its lowest point since the beginning of his second term in office, according to the September poll from Gallup.
The survey, which was conducted between September 2 and September 16, showed that 29% of Americans are satisfied with his job performance, with Republicans reportedly accounting for most of the drop from the 31% reported in August. The satisfaction rate is, however, still higher than the 20% reported in January prior to the president taking office.
Trump also reportedly had a 43% approval rating and a 56% disapproval rating in the four-day Washington Post-Ipsos poll released on September 18, which showed a slight improvement from its last survey released in April reporting a 39% approval and 55% disapproval. The president is also reported to have a 43% approval and 54% disapproval in the latest New York Times poll, as well as an average of 46% approval and 52% disapproval, according to RealClearPolitics, which tabulates several national polling sites.