Trump hits new lows with Independents as his bad job approval numbers continue

A record-high 61% of Americans disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president according to the May 29 - June 1 Economist / YouGov Poll, more than had done so in any week across either of Trump's terms. 35% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of how Trump is handling his job as president — up slightly from 34% last week — while the 61% who disapprove is up from 59% last week. That's a net job approval of -26, the same as last week and tied for the lowest Trump has received in either term.

Over the past three Economist / YouGov polls, Trump has averaged a -24 net job approval, also a record low.

Independents in particular have become more negative about Trump's job handling: Only 21% approve, while 71% disapprove — a -50 net approval. That's a record-low among Independents for either term. At this point in Trump's first term, he had a -3 net job approval among Independents.

Trump's job approval among Independents has fallen so low that the closest first-term comparison isn't to Independents, whose net approval of Trump in his first term never fell below -30. Rather, Trump's approval among Independents is close to how Democrats viewed Trump at the start of his first term, when he had a -54 net approval among Democrats (13% approve and 67% disapprove).

Low overall approval numbers for Trump coincide with record dissatisfaction about how Trump is handling two major issues: inflation and the war in Iran.

Only 24% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling inflation, while 72% disapprove — a net approval of -48 for this issue, the worst of his second term (his inflation handling wasn't regularly asked about in his first term). Trump began his second term with positive net approval for his handling of inflation, but it quickly declined and has continued to fall. Americans have consistently given Trump worse marks for his handling of inflation than they have for the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and crime.

Americans see one highly visible price — that of gasoline — as rising. 49% say the price of gas is going up a lot where they live, and another 23% say it's going up a little. Overall 72% of Americans say the price of gas is going up, while only 15% say it's going down and 9% say it's not changing. This is the 10th consecutive Economist / YouGov Poll dating back to mid-March in which at least two-thirds of Americans have said prices are rising.

Meanwhile 64% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the situation in Iran, up from 48% in January. Only 29% approve of how Trump's handling Iran, down from 34% in January.

Image: Getty (Win McNamee / Staff)

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