Trump hits new approval low two weeks before Election Day

Only 33% of Americans approve of the president’s job performance as economic concerns create new headwinds for Republicans in Congress.

President Donald Trump is facing new lows in job approval ratings just two weeks ahead of Election Day, signaling more political headwinds for his party in the United States Congress.

According to the latest Washington Post/Ipsos poll of more than 2,500 American adults, only 33% approve of Trump’s job as president. It marks Trump’s lowest approval rating since the poll was conducted, dating back to his first term in office. The survey was last conducted this past summer in July, when 37% said they approved of President Trump’s job performance.

The Washington Post/Ipsos poll also questioned Americans about other aspects of Trump’s presidency, including whether he is using the office to enrich himself. Sixty-six percent of those polled said they believe Trump is using the presidency to make himself wealthier. As theGrio previously reported, Trump earned more than $1 billion, mostly from crypto, according to financial disclosures.

Other interesting takeaways from the poll are that 59% of Americans say President Trump is too focused on building projects in D.C., such as his $600 billion White House ballroom, and 80% said Trump placing his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inappropriate. Seventy-four percent of those polls said Trump’s use of taxpayer dollars to fund television ads promoting his policies this election cycle was inappropriate.

The poll comes as Trump and Republicans brace for potentially significant losses in U.S. House and Senate races across the country as Americans remain disgruntled over the country’s cost of living—as a result of their policies—including the ongoing war in Iran, which is driving up the cost of gas. Only 28% of Americans say they approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.

“They’ve been feeling their dollar isn’t going as far. They’ve been feeling that wages aren’t keeping up with the cost of things,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne tells theGrio.

Payne, who served as director of Black media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, notes that Black Americans have experienced the negative aspects of the economy disproportionately.

“The Black experience was always more acute, and experienced more early, and frankly, with more ferocity,” he told theGrio.

Since taking office in January 2025, the Black unemployment rate has steadily increased and, as theGrio recently reported, a new Federal Reserve Bank report found that Black wealth diminished during Trump’s second term.

Payne called out the “targeted nature” of the Trump administration, including cuts to the federal workforce and aggressive efforts to eliminate jobs and programs it deems diversity, equity, and inclusion-related. The Democratic strategist explained that the Trump White House has essentially gone after an “entire professional class of Black and brown people.”

“[It] created this idea that if you were of accomplishment and you were a person of color, that somehow some way you didn’t deserve your position,” said Payne.

The Washington Post/Ipsos poll also shows that a majority of Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans (37% to 28%) when it comes to handling the economy—yet another data point that suggests Democrats will likely win the majority of either the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

Chris Jones, the Democratic nominee for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, told theGrio that should he and other Democrats see victory on Nov. 3, he would like to see the party take immediate action to bring down costs. Those actions include ending Trump’s tariff policies, which are driving up costs for U.S. businesses and consumers; reverse health care funding cuts from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act; and impose tax cuts for the middle class.

“The founders knew we could have a mad king. They knew we could have somebody who wanted to sit on the throne and run away and do whatever they want to do,” said Jones. “That’s why they made sure that Congress held power, and Congress could do things to rein in that mad king.”

Referring to the swift action of the Trump White House upon Trump’s return last year, the congressional candidate added, “Project 2025 did not wait, and so the next Congress also cannot wait.”