President Donald Trump’s approval ratings with Republicans have dropped as he handles fallout from the so-called “Epstein Files”, and concerns about rising prices linked to his global tariffs.
A new poll this week, from YouGov and The Economist, revealed 13 percent of Republicans disapproved of the president, with 83 percent approving. The poll was conducted among 1,577 adults across the U.S.
This number had increased from May when a similar poll found that 9 percent of that group disapproved of the president.
A YouGov/Economist poll, taken on January 26- 28, days after Trump returned to the White House, revealed only a 5 percent disapproval rate among right-leaning Americans.
The president’s slowly but surely declining approval rating, even among his own supporters, may indicate that his loyal MAGA base is faltering.
Specifically, Trump’s approval rating with right-leaning Americans has declined on issues including personal trust and the economy.
In June, inflation rose to 2.7 percent. Job growth slowed down last month with just 73,000 jobs added to the economy, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, but remains historically low.
Trump fired head of the bureau, Erika McEntarfer, after the surprisingly weak jobs report, claiming without evidence that the numbers had been rigged. On Monday, he appointed conservative economist E.J. Antoni to the role.
The president is seeing inflation rise even as he promised that it would end on the first day of his second stint in the White House.
"Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods," he said at an election rally last August.
Trump’s sagging approval rating among his own supporters also comes amid concerns about his tariff policy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that monthly revenue would reach $50 billion due to the new taxes on imports - however, JP Morgan warned that the costs will ultimately be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices.
Trump’s economic approval rating with Republicans dropped from 90 percent in January to 79 percent this month. When it comes to inflation, his approval rating went from 84 percent to 72 percent.
While the vast majority of Republicans and right-leaning Americans still support the president, the polling trends indicate that economic worries may be eating into that support.
Voters’ views on Trump’s trustworthiness also took a hit. Between the January poll and the latest survey, Republicans who think the president is untrustworthy went from 7 to 14 percent.
One major issue that has caused ruptures in the MAGA base is the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into deceased sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
Many conservatives, along with Democrats, were outraged by a July 6 memo from the Department of Justice and FBI which concluded that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no “client list” of high-profile figures involved in his alleged sex trafficking scheme. Attorney General Pam Bondi had earlier insinuated there was a client list sitting on her desk, and that much more information was to be revealed in the investigation. Trump reacted to the uproar by telling his supporters to move on from Epstein.
In the weeks following the DOJ memo, theWall Street Journal published a bombshell story about Trump sending Epstein, his onetime friend, a “bawdy” birthday sketch in 2003 which reportedly read: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The president denied creating the card, and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the WSJ and its owner Rupert Murdoch.
Subsequent reporting also revealed that Trump was informed by Bondi in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files, along with many other high-profile people. Last month Trump denied Bondi had told him that he appears in the Epstein files. The president has never been formally accused or charged with a crime in connection with Epstein.
And the issue is unlikely to disappear. Representatives Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, are planning to bring Epstein survivors to the Capitol for a press conference on September 3 when the House returns from recess.
