Donald Trump's net approval is holding steady near Joe Biden's worst numbers

In recent weeks, Americans consistently have been more negative about how Donald Trump is handling his job as president than they have ever been across either of his two terms in office, the latest Economist / YouGov Poll finds.

36% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of Trump's job handling, and 58% disapprove, for a net job approval of -22.

Trump has received worse approval, disapproval, and net approval numbers on individual past Economist / YouGov Polls. But in the past, bad numbers one week often have been offset by less-bad numbers in the next poll. Now, the share of Americans who approve of Trump's job handling has been under 40% for two straight months, and his net approval has been -22 for three straight weeks. As a result, Trump's average net approval over the past three weeks of -22 is a record low for his two terms.

Trump's average net approval of -22 over the last three weeks also matches the lowest net approval Joe Biden ever averaged over three consecutive weeks in his term in office.

Disapproval of Trump is considerably more intense than is his support. 49% of Americans strongly disapprove of Trump's job handling, compared to only 20% who strongly approve. Of those who approve of Trump, 54% do so strongly, while of those who disapprove, 84% do so strongly.

90% of Democrats strongly disapprove of how Trump is handling his job. That's not only far more than the 53% of Republicans who strongly approve of Trump, it's also considerably higher than strong approval among self-identified MAGA Republicans (72%). 22% of Republican MAGA supporters say they only somewhat approve of Trump's job performance.

Trump has also recently lost support among a key group of supporters: the nearly two-thirds of white Americans who don't have college degrees. When Trump's second term began, he had a +28 net approval among this group. This group is now more likely to disapprove than approve of Trump's job handling, with a net approval of -4.

White Americans with college degrees are 17 points less likely than those without college degrees to approve of Trump's job performance.

Besides race and education, religiosity is also strongly associated with Trump job approval. Among white Americans with college degrees, 18% of those who never attend religious services approve of Trump — but 49% of those who attend religious services even occasionally approve. There's a similar split among white adults without college degrees: 28% of those who never attend religious services approve of Trump, compared to 57% of those who sometimes attend religious services. Put another way: White Americans with college degrees who sometimes attend religious services are far more likely to approve of Trump than are white Americans without degrees who never attend (49% vs. 28%).

Approval of Trump has fallen since the start of his term among each of these groups of white Americans, categorized by education and religious-services attendance. For example, a three-week average of Trump's net job approval has fallen by 18 points among white adults with college degrees who never attend religious services (to -69 now from -51 at the start of his term), and by 17 points among religious white adults with college degrees (+0 now from +17).

Trump's support has dropped even more among white adults without college degrees, even as they have remained one of his strongest sources of support. Among white adults without degrees who attend religious services, Trump's average net job approval has fallen 25 points (to +20 from +46). And among non-college white adults who never attend religious services, it's down 34 points (to -34 from +0).

Image: Getty (Alex Wong / Staff)

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