Copyright Newsweek
U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating is "down there with the Titanic," a data expert has said. Harry Enten, CNN's chief data analyst, said the president's approval rating was "at his term two lows" and was affecting the ability of Republican candidates to win elections. Newsweek reached out to the White House by email to comment on this story outside of normal business hours. Why It Matters On November 4, there were a series of elections across the country in which Democrats made a number of gains in key seats including the New York City mayoral election, where Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. These election results have concerned the GOP ahead of future votes, including the November 2026 midterm elections. If Trump continues to poll poorly, this could affect Republican candidates in the midterms as well as Trump's reputation more broadly. What To Know Speaking on CNN Thursday, Enten said Trump's approval rating was at "his term two lows" and "down there with the Titanic" with pollsters putting his approval rating at between -12 and -26 percentage points. He added that those who disapproved of Trump went on to vote against Republican candidates in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections on Tuesday, meaning Trump's approval rating matters to the GOP more broadly. "If there is any idea that Republicans are going to be able to outrun Donald Trump's low approval ratings, this says 'nuh uh' they’re going to be like impalas getting chased down in the African desert by a big lion," Enten said. He said that Trump was "a drag on Republican candidates" and that those running in a state where Trump is underwater would be in "big, big trouble." It comes amid negative polling about the President. According to Rasmussen Reports, a pollster that has been accused of leaning toward Republican candidates but claims to be independent, Trump's net approval rating is -8 percentage points. As per their tracker, this is the president's lowest approval rating since his second term started in January. A recent poll by The Economist/YouGov found Trump’s approval rating at its lowest level since he returned to office in January, 39 percent of people approving of the job he is doing, and 58 percent disapproving, a net approval rating of -19 points. According to RealClearPolitics, which aggregates several polls, the president's net approval rating is at -8.9 percentage points, the lowest in his second term so far, as per the website's tracker. Speaking to Newsweek, Mark Shanahan, who teaches American politics a the University of Surrey in the U.K. said: "It has been a bad week for Republican politicians pretty much across the country other than Texas. Donald Trump claimed their losses were so bad because he wasn't on the ballot, but he loomed menacingly over every state and city election this week and much of the reversal for the GOP comes from voters rejecting the Trump project." What People Are Saying President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday: "So many Fake Polls are being shown by the Radical Left Media, all slanted heavily toward Democrats and Far Left Wingers … Fake News will never change, they are evil and corrupt but, as I look around my beautiful surroundings, I say to myself, 'Oh, look, I’m sitting in the Oval Office!'" What Happens Next Trump's approval rating will continue to fluctuate as his presidency continues. Pollsters will continue to track his popularity.
