Trump approval hits a second term low
Five charts to start your day
For $10 a month, or $100 a year, you support a simple mission: spread great data visualisation wherever it comes from. You help fund the work of finding, sourcing and explaining the charts that deserve a wider audience. And you back a publication built on generosity, transparency and the belief that better understanding makes a better world.
Support rarely collapses all at once. It thins out, issue by issue, group by group, until the shape of the coalition no longer holds.
These five charts are about erosion. Donald Trump’s net approval has slipped deeper into negative territory early in his second term, and the decline is not confined to one policy area or one voting bloc. It shows up across issues, across demographics, and across the past year.
CHART 1 • Trump approval hits a second term low
Net approval ratings tell a different story from raw approval alone. This chart shows net approval sliding to around -19% early in the second term.
The comparison with the Biden period is stark. While Biden’s net approval also weakened, the trajectory was less steep over the same point in the term. For Trump the decline was faster and deeper.
Net approval captures intensity. It reflects not just supporters, but the balance between approval and disapproval. A deeply negative figure limits room to manoeuvre, especially on contentious reforms or foreign policy decisions.
Polling always moves, but sustained negative net approval is historically hard to reverse without a major economic or geopolitical shift.
Source: Economist
Approval ratings depend on trust built over long periods and lost surprisingly quickly. Once erosion sets in, reversing it requires more than messaging or short term fixes.
I have four more charts that extend this theme and look at where trust is weakening next, and why that matters. They are for paid subscribers. Consider joining if you want the full edition.
