One Year In, Trump's Approval Is Underwater on Most Issues

While Trump’s overall approval is near record lows one year into his second stint at the White House, a closer look at some key issues reveals that there are significant differences in how Americans rate the president’s handling of different challenges, both domestically and internationally.

The first thing that meets the eye is that the polling averages calculated by RealClearPolitics find just one issue with a positive net approval, which is the way that Trump handled the Gaza conflict, where he helped broker a ceasefire. Apart from that, Trump’s approval is underwater across the board, with inflation standing out as the issue that Trump handled particularly badly. While Trump has repeatedly stated that “prices are way down” and that there is virtually “no inflation”, high prices and low affordability are still the biggest pain points for millions of Americans, who aren’t happy with their president simply denying that there is a problem.

Other issues that Trump scores particularly badly in are the Russia-Ukraine war, which Trump vowed to end on day one, and the economy, which has yet to show signs of the boom that Trump promised during his campaign. The president’s foreign policy is also relatively unpopular, with many Americans unhappy of the way Trump and his administration treat long-standing allies of the United States. The reviews are slightly more mixed for Trump’s handling of crime and immigration. While his supporters approve of the rigorous immigration crackdown led by a reinforced ICE, critics argue that the agency is frequently overstepping its mandate, acting too forceful and without accountability.