President Donald Trump’s approval rating slid further Thursday, hitting a new low during his second term of 37% among U.S. adults, according to Gallup, as he continues losing support from independent voters. Independents rated him most poorly on his handling of the budget, Ukraine and foreign trade.
Trump’s standing among partisans hasn’t shifted. Gallup found that his support from Republicans has stayed steady at around 89% and his approval from Democrats remained in the single digits, falling slightly to 2% in July.
Gallup’s pollsters spoke to voters in the two weeks after Trump signed into law his signature spending bill—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That law included tax cuts, and increased funds for immigration enforcement, the military and U.S. fossil fuel production. It also included funding cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Among independents, Trump’s lowest approvals came in for his handling of the federal budget, at 19%, and the war in Ukraine, at 24%. Twenty seven percent of independents approved of his handling of foreign trade and the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. His handling of the economy found 29% approval among independents. Trump’s overall approval among independent voters declined to 29% down from 46% when he took office six months ago.
Trump’s Gallup approval rating during his first term peaked at 49% in May 2020 and fell to its lowest level at 34% during his final weeks in office in January 2021. The new approval rating comes as Trump grapples with concerns from Republican supporters about his administration’s refusal to release more files from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
On Wednesday, three House Republicans on the House Oversight Committee broke with GOP leaders and agreed with Democrats to subpoena Justice Department records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The committee also agreed to issue a subpoena for a deposition from Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted for her role in a sex trafficking conspiracy with Epstein, and requested testimony from high-profile figures including President Bill Clinton, former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
Trump has tried to change the subject for days, but with little effect. On Tuesday in the Oval Office, he revived a long-time grievance against former President Barack Obama, saying, without evidence, that Obama committed treason for his handling of investigations into Russia’s attempt to influence the 2016 election, which Trump won. On Sunday night, Trump launched a flurry of online posts on Truth Social calling for the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Commanders football teams to return to their earlier names, posted clips of people doing dangerous stunts, and shared a fake AI-generated video of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office.
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