Donald Trump’s latest approval ratings make for some very interesting reading.
New polling shows that the US President’s approval ratings have changed considerably across the first year of his second term in the White House.
The 79-year-old was sworn into the presidency for a second time just over a year ago, after defeating Kamala Harris in a tense and typically controversy-laden 2024 presidential election.
Trump returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the beginning of 2025 on the back of over 80 million votes and strong promises on improving America’s economy, ending wars, and becoming stricter on illegal immigration.
The year that has followed has brought conflict with NATO allies, struggles with inflation, and most pertinently, American citizens being killed in broad daylight by border patrol agents.
But how is the American public viewing Trump, and where do his voters stand 12 months after his second inauguration?
Second ICE shooting in Minnesota draws more fury towards the Trump administration
The killing of nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents over the weekend incited further protests against how Trump has sought to handle illegal immigration since retaking office, last year.
Pretti had been filming the officers as they clashed with residents in Minneapolis when he was attacked by several agents.
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was legally carrying a firearm at the time, but had not unholstered the weapon or brandished it, as videos that have circulated online have since proved.
An officer then appears to remove Pretti’s gun before another shoots Pretti in the street multiple times, killing him.
The killing coming so soon after 37-year-old mother Renee Good died, after also being shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, has heightened already extreme tensions across America, on both political sides, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) once again claiming that officers acted in self defense in the Pretti killing.
However, more and more Americans are now protesting DHS’ tactics, with American citizens being killed as a result of them.
Members of the Republican Party are also calling for an investigation into the killing of Pretti, with congressional republicans pressing for more information, including Representative Michael McCaul of Texas and Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
While Good was portrayed as a ‘domestic terrorist’ by the likes of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Pretti – who cared for military veterans at Minneapolis VA Health Care System – was claimed by assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin to be an individual who ‘wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.’
Backlash towards Trump could threaten Republican midterm chances
While protests against ICE are causing the rise of more dissenting voices within his own party, Trump has also received backlash across the United States due to his stance on Greenland, which has alienated scores of NATO allies and upset many more Americans after the President hinted at taking military action to seize control of the Denmark-owned island.
Not only that, but the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and vocal threats towards conducting military action in Iran, Mexico and Colombia have caused politicians and voters alike to question further escalation and potential wars, which would cost more American lives on top of hundreds of billions of dollars in tax payers money.
Trump’s threat of tariffs against major NATO allies was widely condemned both domestically and internationally, with a potential trade war narrowly being averted. But while the President drew the ire of America’s biggest allies, he also threatened losing ground at a crucial time back home.
The American midterms will take place in November and will determine which political party controls Congress. Control of Congress affects how easy it is for a President to pass laws.
Coming at roughly the mid-point of a presidency, midterms also tend to represent a more settled opinion of an administration, with the public’s opinions of a President ordinarily less likely to shift after two years in charge.
Trump, who has consistently lied about the 2020 presidential election being ‘stolen’ to favor Joe Biden, has remarked about the need for elections. In the past Trump has mentioned running for a third term as President, which is constitutionally impossible, while also wondering aloud about having midterms at all.
The comments about midterms prompted a furious response from democrats in particular, while the 79-year-old’s supporters claimed the President was joking or simply being rhetorical in his phrasing.
American public want Trump to make good on election promises
One of the main platforms Trump ran on during his successful 2024 campaign was lowering prices for the American consumer. However, the cost of living has not improved during Trump’s first year, with many Americans still relying on food banks and multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
Trump has regularly stated that he is lowering the price of groceries and that his tariffs against foreign countries will make goods cheaper for Americans, yet this reality is yet to materialize.
While the number of deportations and reduction of illegal border crossings may point to safer borders, the stories of American citizens being detained, deported and killed also highlight major issues with how immigration is being handled under Trump’s watch.
Some Trump voters have stated that they don’t agree with non-criminal immigrants being targeted, as they have been over the past year, while stories regarding people being deported to countries they’ve never been to before also hinder the image of Homeland Security and ICE. Regular violent outbreaks on the streets of major cities have been chastised on both sides of the political aisle.
So what do Americans really think of Trump?
An AP-NORC poll from January found that just four in 10 US adults approved of Trump’s performance during his second term, so far.
The poll states that, as of January 8, 2026, 59% of US adults disapprove of the way POTUS is handling the country. On the other hand, 40% do approve of Trump’s performance.
Startlingly for Trump and his followers, given how strong he ran on bolstering the US economy, only 37% of American adults approve of his handling of the economy, with 62% disapproving. Similarly, only 38% approve of his performance related to immigration with 37% approving of his foreign policy and trade negotiations.
Meanwhile, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed that nearly 50% of American voters said that their life was worse off than it was four years ago. The same poll also shows that 64% of voters say Trump has mismanaged efforts to handle the cost of living.
In response to the recent approval ratings, Trump has branded the polls to be fake and to be spreading misinformation, in a post to his social media platform, Truth Social.
Given that Trump’s main election platforms are now all faring poorly in the eyes of voters, it highlights just how conflicted the American public currently are. Trump’s approval ratings also cratered during his first term as President, leading to him losing the 2020 election to Biden.
However, despite losing in 2020 and his involvement in the January 6 insurrection, Trump rose to prominence again to reclaim the Oval Office.
The President’s second term has certainly been more disruptive than his first, with widespread protests and violence marring the 79-year-old’s opening 12 months of his final four years in office.
At the beginning of 2026, with midterms only 10 months away, the mood of the American public feels unsteady and exhausted during an endless news cycle of war, tariffs, and American citizens being killed. Whether fake polls or not, republicans will be hoping Trump can steady the ship before November’s elections.
