President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 32%, marking the lowest point of his second term, according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll released August 31, 2026. The survey of 1,000 respondents, conducted August 21–26, found that 64% of Americans disapprove of his job performance, a sign of deepening political weakness as midterm elections approach in two months.
Trump’s overall approval has declined one percentage point since March 2026, but the trajectory over his second term has been steeper. He began his second term in January 2025 with a 47–50% approval rating, according to multiple polling sources, and has seen a consistent downward trend throughout 2026. His approval rating during his first term averaged 41%, meaning his second-term lows now approach or match his first-term floor.
The primary drivers of Trump’s low approval are economic concerns and the ongoing war with Iran. The UMass Poll found that 75% of Americans say Trump has not handled inflation well, and 68% disapprove of his handling of the Iran war. Support for the war itself has eroded: just 31% of Americans approve of U.S. military actions against Iran, according to Forbes reporting from August 25, 2026. Among Republicans, approval of Trump’s handling of Iran fell from 71% to 61% between June and August.
Republican support for Trump has fractured along ideological lines. The UMass Poll shows that while 69% of Republicans overall approve of Trump’s job performance, that figure masks significant variation. Among Republicans who strongly identify with the MAGA movement, 87% approve of Trump’s handling of Iran; among those who are “somewhat MAGA,” approval drops to 58%; and among those who say they are “not MAGA at all,” it falls to just 30%, according to the poll’s analysis.
Even Trump’s own voters show signs of erosion. The UMass Poll found that 16% of Trump voters say they might vote differently or would not vote if they could redo their 2024 choice. While this represents a minority, it is enough to have potentially altered the outcome of last year’s relatively close election, according to the poll’s researchers. The survey also found that 39% of all respondents say Trump’s performance has been “much worse than expected,” up from 7% who say it has been “much better.”
Trump’s approval on specific issues is uniformly weak. Beyond inflation and Iran, 63% say he has not handled jobs well, 56% disapprove of his handling of corruption in government, and 52% disapprove of his work with global allies, according to the UMass Poll. On the economy as a whole, Trump’s approval sits at 32%, down from 40% at the start of his second term, according to reporting from Fortune.
Tatishe Nteta, director of the UMass Poll, noted that Trump faces a narrow window to reverse the trend. “With the midterm elections just two months away, the clock is ticking for President Trump and the Republican Party to offer solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems,” Nteta said in the poll’s release. “A failure to do so will likely result not only in a continued decline in the President’s approval rating but could also put Republican control of the House of Representatives and possibly the U.S. Senate increasingly at risk.”
The 32% approval rating places Trump among the least popular presidents at this stage of a term. According to Pew Research Center analysis from August 6, 2026, Trump’s job approval is “lower than most recent presidents at comparable points,” with a partisan approval gap of 78 percentage points—a measure of political polarization.
Sources
- University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll — Trump’s overall approval at 32%, Republican approval down 14 points since March, 68% disapprove of Iran war handling, 75% say inflation not handled well, 16% of Trump voters say they might vote differently.
- Pew Research Center — Trump’s approval lower than most recent presidents at comparable point in term, 78-point partisan gap.
- Forbes — Approval of Iran war handling at 31%, down from 71% to 61% among Republicans between June and August.
- Fortune — Trump’s approval on economy at 32%, down from 40% at start of second term.
- Reuters/Ipsos and other polling aggregators — Trump’s second-term approval trajectory from 47–50% at start to current lows; first-term average approval 41%.
