Trump's Approval Is Collapsing. Fox News Has His Disapproval at 59% — The Highest of Either Term.

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These are not Democratic polls, cherry-picked to make Trump look bad. These are Reuters/Ipsos, CNN/SSRS, YouGov/Economist, and Fox News — running concurrently, all pointing in the same direction. Trump's approval rating is at its lowest point of his second term, and the numbers on the one issue he most needs to win — the economy — are historically bad for him specifically.

That Fox number deserves to sit for a second. 59% disapproval on Fox News — the network that spent the last decade functioning as an in-house communications arm for Donald Trump. A year ago, that same Fox poll had 51% disapproving. Eight points in one year. Nearly half of Fox poll respondents said they "strongly" disapprove. The war in Iran polled at 58% disapproval in that same survey. Trump went live on Fox this week to call in and complain about the poll. He said it was fake. Fox ran it anyway.

The Economy Was the One Thing He Owned

The 31% economy approval is the number that matters most politically, and it's the one that should bother his team the most. Trump won a second term almost entirely on economic grievance — inflation, grocery prices, gas. His closing argument in 2024 was that Biden had broken the economy and Trump would fix it. He won on that case. In his second term, before the Iran war, his approval on the economy was consistently his strongest number, his floor. It was the reason his overall approval held relatively steady even as other issues dragged.

That floor is gone. 31% is his lowest economy approval ever recorded, in either term, across any major poll. The CNN/SSRS survey found 63% of Americans say higher gas prices have caused at least some financial hardship. Fifteen percent say it's severe. Forty-five percent say they've cut back significantly on how much they drive — up 5 points in a year. Grocery costs, fertilizer prices, diesel: all rising. The Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows, has been closed since February 28. Americans spent an estimated extra $8 billion on gasoline since the war started, according to GasBuddy. Trump's response when asked about gas prices on March 19: "I thought it would be worse, much worse."

His Base Is Cracking Too

The YouGov/Economist data is especially instructive because it tracks the same voters over time. In the five weeks since just before the war began, Trump's numbers dropped across every coalition group — including his own: down 6 points among 2024 Trump voters, down 4 points among conservatives, down 5 points among Republicans, and down 5 points among self-described MAGA supporters. The NBC News Decision Desk polling from late 2025 found the share of Republicans who identify primarily with MAGA dropped 7 points since April 2025 — from 57% to 50%. Megyn Kelly, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson: all raising questions about the war. None blaming Trump by name. But the disapproval is real, and it's landing.

The 22% among independents is the other number worth marking. Independents decide elections. Trump won enough of them in 2024 to get back into office. At 22%, he's underwater with them by roughly 50 points, depending on the poll. The midterms are in November. Republicans currently hold the House by a margin of a handful of seats. Geoffrey Skelley, chief elections analyst at Decision Desk HQ, told The Hill: "It's not hard for people to see, 'Oh, gas prices went up after we attacked Iran, and the Middle East is where a lot of oil comes from.' People are not dumb. They connect the dots on that."

He ran on lower prices. He said the wars would end. He stood at the inauguration and said: "We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into." Gas is $4.11. He started the war. The polls reflect exactly that. The midterms are seven months away.