President Donald Trump’s performance on economic matters has reached its weakest point in recent polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. According to the latest survey, only 31% of American adults approve of how he is managing the economy, a drop from 40% in March and the lowest rating recorded during either of his terms. This decline signals growing public concern over economic conditions despite his administration’s earlier successes on key campaign issues.
The poll, conducted December 4–8 with a nationally representative sample of 1,146 adults, reveals broader dissatisfaction across several policy areas. While Trump still maintains a degree of support among Republicans, even within his base there is a noticeable dip in confidence. In the December survey, 69% of Republicans backed his economic leadership, down from 78% in March. Some voters, like Larry Reynolds, a 74-year-old Republican from Ohio, expressed concerns that high import tariffs have created a self-reinforcing cycle without clear economic justification.
Public sentiment on the overall state of the economy remains bleak, with 68% describing it as “poor”—a figure unchanged since October and consistent with assessments made during the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency. Although Trump’s overall job approval stands at 36%, down from 42% in March, this suggests that while voters may disapprove of specific policies, they have not entirely withdrawn their support.
On immigration and border security, Trump continues to show a divergence in public perception. While approval for his immigration policies has fallen from 49% to 38%, half of U.S. adults still approve of his handling of border security—a slight dip from 55% in September. Independents appear more receptive to border enforcement than mass deportations, with Jim Rollins, an 82-year-old independent from Georgia, supporting tighter borders but criticizing the removal of long-term residents without criminal records.
Health care and federal management remain weak spots. Approval for Trump’s health care approach stands at about 30%, and only 35% approve of his management of the federal government, down from 43% in March. These issues were central to a recent prolonged government shutdown, which ended after congressional Democrats agreed to a compromise on Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Despite mounting criticism, Trump retains stronger loyalty from his party than Biden did at a similar stage. In mid-2022, only about half of Democrats approved of Biden’s economic management, compared to two-thirds by the time he exited the 2024 race. For now, internal party discontent has not translated into widespread defection.
— news from AP News
— News Original —
Trump’s handling of the economy is at its lowest point in AP-NORC polling
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially since March, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the 2026 midterms.
Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term. The Republican president also has struggled to recover from public blowback on other issues, such as his management of the federal government, and has not seen an approval bump even after congressional Democrats effectively capitulated to end a record-long government shutdown last month.
Perhaps most worryingly for Trump, who’s become increasingly synonymous with his party, he’s slipped on issues that were major strengths. Just a few months ago, 53% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of crime, but that’s fallen to 43% in the new poll. There’s been a similar decline on immigration, from 49% approval in March to 38% now.
The new poll starkly illustrates how Trump has struggled to hold onto political wins since his return to office. Even border security — an issue on which his approval remains relatively high — has declined slightly in recent months.
The good news for Trump is that his overall approval hasn’t fallen as steeply. The new poll found that 36% of Americans approve of the way he’s handling his job as president, which is down slightly from 42% in March. That signals that even if some people aren’t happy with elements of his approach, they might not be ready to say he’s doing a bad job as president. And while discontent is increasing among Republicans on certain issues, they’re largely still behind him.
Declining approval on the economy, even among Republicans
Republicans are more unhappy with Trump’s performance on the economy than they were in the first few months of his term. About 7 in 10 Republicans, 69%, approve of how Trump is handling the economy in the December poll, a decline from 78% in March.
Larry Reynolds, a 74-year-old retiree and Republican voter from Wadsworth, Ohio, said he believes in Trump’s plan to impose import duties on U.S. trading partners but thinks rates have spiraled too high, creating a “vicious circle now where they aren’t really justifying the tariffs.”
Reynolds said he also believes that inflation became a problem during the coronavirus pandemic and that the economy won’t quickly recover, regardless of what Trump does. “I don’t think it’ll be anything really soon. I think it’s just going to take time,” he said.
Trump’s base is still largely behind him, which was not always the case for his predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat. In the summer of 2022, only about half of Democrats approved of how Biden was handling the economy. Shortly before he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race two years later, that had risen to about two-thirds of Democrats.
More broadly, though, there’s no sign that Americans think the economy has improved since Trump took over. About two-thirds of U.S. adults, 68%, continue to say the country’s economy is “poor.” That’s unchanged from the last time the question was asked in October, and it’s broadly in line with views throughout Biden’s last year in office.
Why Trump gets higher approval on border security than immigration
Trump’s approval ratings on immigration have declined since March, but border security remains a relatively strong issue for him. Half of U.S. adults, 50%, approve of how Trump is handling border security, which is just slightly lower than the 55% who approved in September.
Trump’s relative strength on border security is partially driven by Democrats and independents. About one-third of independents, 36%, approve of Trump on the border, while 26% approve on immigration.
Jim Rollins, an 82-year-old independent in Macon, Georgia, said he believes that when it comes to closing the border, Trump has done “a good job,” but he hopes the administration will rethink its mass deportation efforts.
“Taking people out of kindergarten, and people going home for Thanksgiving, taking them off a plane. If they are criminals, sure,” said Rollins, who said he supported Trump in his first election but not since then. “But the percentages — based on the government’s own statistics — say that they’re not criminals. They just didn’t register, and maybe they sneaked across the border, and they’ve been here for 15 years.”
Other polls have shown it’s more popular to increase border security than to deport immigrants, even those who are living in the country illegally. Nearly half of Americans said increasing security at the U.S.-Mexico border should be “a high priority” for the government in AP-NORC polling from September. Only about 3 in 10 said the same about deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Shaniqwa Copeland, a 30-year-old independent and home health aide in St. Augustine, Florida, said she approves of Trump’s overall handling of the presidency but believes his immigration actions have gone too far, especially when it comes to masked federal agents leading large raids.
“Now they’re just picking up anybody,” Copeland said. “They just like, pick up people, grabbing anybody. It’s crazy.”
Health care and government management remain thorns for Trump
About 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling health care, down slightly from November. The new poll was conducted in early December, as Trump and Congress struggled to find a bipartisan deal for extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies that will expire at the end of this month.
That health care fight was also the source of the recent government shutdown. About one-third of U.S. adults, 35%, approve of how Trump is managing the federal government, down from 43% in March.
But some Americans may see others at fault for the country’s problems, in addition to Trump. Copeland is unhappy with the country’s health care system and thinks things are getting worse but is not sure of whether to blame Trump or Biden.
“A couple years ago, I could find a dentist and it would be easy. Now, I have a different health care provider, and it’s like so hard to find a dental (plan) with them,” she said. “And the people that do take that insurance, they have so many scheduled out far, far appointments because it’s so many people on it.”
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,146 adults was conducted Dec. 4-8 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.