Topline
President Donald Trump has a net negative approval rating in eight of nine polls taken in the wake of his sweeping tariff announcement on April 2—though most Americans don’t think Trump will stick with the new levies, according to one survey.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen as President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office on Wednesday, April 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Timeline
-9 net approval rating: More than half, 53%, of respondents disapprove of Trump’s job performance in Gallup’s April 1-14 survey of 1,006 adults (margin of error 4), while 44% approve.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who Trump has been feuding with and said this week he’s considering firing, has a 37% approval rating, beneath the lowest approval ratings for the previous three federal reserve chairs, but above his 36% average approval rating in 2023, Gallup found.
-10: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,512 U.S. adults found 52% disapprove of Trump’s job performance, compared to 42% who approve (margin of error 3.4).
-7: Trump’s approval rating dropped to a new low for his second term in Morning Consult’s weekly poll, with 45% approving of his job performance and 52% disapproving (the poll of 2,203 registered voters was taken April 11-13 and has a 2-point margin of error).
On trade, Trump has a net -5 approval rating, and 24% of respondents said it’s a top priority for Trump, though only 48% think it should be.
+2: Representing an outlier in polls taken since Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement, Harvard CAPS/Harris found 48% approve of Trump’s job performance and 46% disapprove, a seven-point decline in his net approval rating compared to the groups’ February poll and a two-point decline since March (the latest survey was taken April 9-10 among 2,286 registered voters and has a 1.9-point margin of error).
Voters’ perceptions of the economy as a whole are largely unchanged since January, even though a greater share, 45%, say their financial situation is getting worse, compared to 41% in the groups’ previous survey in March—while Trump’s handling of inflation, and tariffs and trade policy, had the worst approval ratings, both at 41%, of eight issues the poll asked about.
-7: A University of Massachusetts poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted April 4-9 by YouGov found 51% disapprove of Trump’s job performance, while 44% approve (the poll has a 3.7-point margin of error).
Trump received his worst approval rating of six issues the poll asked about on inflation (33%), followed by trade (36%), civil rights (36%), jobs (38%), foreign affairs (39%) and immigration (50%).
-6: More than half, 53%, of the 2,410 U.S. adults who responded to an April 8-11 CBS/YouGov poll said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance, compared to 47% who approve (margin of error 2.4 points), a dip in Trump’s rating since the groups’ March survey that found equal shares of Americans approve and disapprove.
The poll also found 58% oppose and 42% favor Trump’s new tariffs on imported goods, but 51% like his goals for the tariffs—to return manufacturing jobs to the U.S. and decrease the import/export margins between the U.S. and its trading partners, he has said—though 63% dislike his approach for achieving those goals.
More Americans, 59%, believe Trump is using the new tariffs to negotiate with other countries and will remove them later, compared to 41% who think he’ll keep them permanently.
-12: Trump’s disapproval rating stayed stagnant, at 53%, in the latest Quinnipiac University poll taken April 3-7 among 1,407 self-identified registered voters, though his approval rating decreased one point, to 41%, compared to the group’s previous survey taken in March (the shift is within the poll’s 2.6-point margin of error).
The poll found the majority of voters (72%) think Trump’s tariffs on all U.S. trading partners would hurt the economy in the short-term, while 53% said they believe the policy would hurt the economy in the long-term.
-8: A new Economist/YouGov survey taken April 5-8, after Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement on April 2, found 51% disapprove of his job performance, compared to 43% who approve, a five-point swing since the groups’ previous survey taken March 30-April 1 (the latest survey of 1,741 U.S. adults has a margin of error of 3.1 points).
-6: Representing the lowest rating of his second term in Morning Consult’s weekly poll, 46% of registered voters surveyed said they approve of Trump’s job performance, compared to 52% who said they disapprove (the survey of 2,207 registered U.S. voters was conducted April 4-6 and has a margin of error of 2 points).
Trump’s net approval rating on trade also declined to -3, down from +13 just after taking office in January.
-8: A Marquette Law school poll found Trump has a 46% approval rating and a 54% disapproval rating (the survey of 1,021 U.S. adults was taken March 17-27 and has a margin of error of 3.5 points).
The majority, 58%, of respondents said they think tariffs hurt the economy, while 28% said they help and 14% said they don’t make much difference—as Trump has imposed new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, steel aluminum and auto imports, and is expected to announce a new round of reciprocal tariffs against U.S. trading partners Wednesday, which the White House is referring to as “Liberation Day.”
-3: Half of the 2,210 registered voters surveyed by Morning Consult March 28-30 (margin of error 2) said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance—a one-point improvement since the group’s survey a week prior—while his approval rating stayed at 47%.
-14: More than half, 56%, of 1,229 U.S. adults surveyed March 20-24 by AP-NORC said they strongly or somewhat disapprove or lean towards disapproving of Trump’s job performance as president, while his net approval rating totaled 42% (the poll has a 3.9-point margin of error).
Even: A CBS/YouGov poll found equal shares of the 2,609 U.S. adults surveyed March 27-28 approve or disapprove of Trump’s job performance (margin of error 2.3), while 55% said he is focusing “too much” on putting tariffs on goods from other countries and 38% said it’s the “right amount” of focus.
+2: Trump’s net approval rating ticked up two points in an Economist/YouGov survey conducted March 22-25, compared to the group’s previous poll taken earlier this month, with 48% of 1,600 U.S. adults surveyed saying they approve of the president’s job performance, compared to 46% who disapprove (the poll has a three-point margin of error).
-6: More than half, 51%, of 1,030 U.S. adults surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos from March 21-23 (margin of error 3) disapprove of Trump’s job performance, compared to 45% who approve .
-4: Morning Consult recorded a record high disapproval rating of 51% for Trump and a record-low approval rating of 47% for his second term in its March 21-23 survey of 2,210 registered voters (margin of error 2), a two-point net decline for Trump since the group’s previous weekly poll.
-4: A March 7-11 NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters found 47% approve of Trump and 51% disapprove (margin of error 3.1).
-2: For the first time in Trump’s second term, he had a net negative approval rating in Morning Consult’s weekly poll of 2,210 registered voters taken March 14-16 (margin of error 2), with 50% saying they disapprove and 48% saying they approve.
Surprising Fact
The share of registered voters who say they identify with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement has increased sharply during Trump’s second term, according to NBC polling. A total of 36% of 1,000 registered voters polled March 7-11 said they consider themselves part of the MAGA coalition, compared to a 23% average in NBC’s March polling and 27% in the network’s 2024 polls (the most recent poll has a 3.1-point margin of error).
What Do Other Surveys Show About Trump’s Tariffs?
A significant share of Americans lack a basic understanding of tariffs, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that found less than half support universal tariffs, but favor targeted tariffs on countries “taking advantage” of the global trade system. The survey of 1,027 U.S. adults taken April 4-6 found 32%, including 19% of Republicans, 49% of Democrats and 30% of independents, incorrectly believe tariffs “are taxes paid by the country exporting the goods.” Less than half of all respondents (39%) support Trump’s 10% tax on all U.S. trading partners, on Canadian imports (35%), imports from Mexico (39%), and 25% global tariffs on imported cars (35%). There was a stark partisan divide in the sentiment—at least 70% of Republicans said they support all four taxes, compared to about 10% of Democrats. However, 76% overall said they support tariffs aimed at countries that “have been taking advantage of the U.S.” on trade.
Big Number
45%. That’s Trump’s average approval rating so far during his second term, higher than his 41% average approval rating throughout the duration of his first term, according to Gallup, but lower than every other post World War II president.
What Was Biden’s Approval Rating At This Point In His Term?
57%, according to Gallup’s average for the three weeks of April 2021.
Key Background
Trump announced a new slate of tariffs against all U.S. trading partners on April 2, sending stock markets in the U.S. and abroad into a tailspin, fueling recession fears and prompting some of his allies in the business community to speak out against the policy. A 10% baseline tariff on all countries took effect April 5, and steeper rates for countries the U.S. runs a trade deficit were briefly imposed Wednesday, until Trump announced a 90-day pause for all countries except China. Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement largely quieted the media frenzy surrounding the leak of U.S. military attack plans to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, what was widely considered to be the first major blunder of his second term. Trump’s tariff war with U.S. trading partners, and his efforts to slash the federal workforce with the help of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, have largely consumed his first two months in office. Other major moments include his explosive Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy in which he and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in front of the media and his use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants. The latter, along with the mass firings that have taken place across dozens of government agencies, have prompted numerous legal battles that have led to accusations the Trump administration has defied court orders, sparking debate about the judiciary’s authority over the executive branch.
Further Reading
Trump Announces Reciprocal Tariff Rates—54% For China, 20% On EU (Forbes)
Here’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are Targeted—As Pentagon Reportedly Plans 60,000 Job Cuts (Forbes)