Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon has urged the president to “bang some heads” and come up with a game plan for Republicans amid dismal recent polling.
"Let's run the table [with] a simple plan, aggressively executed," Bannon, the host of “War Room” and Trump’s chief strategist during his first term, told Axios. "The President may have to bang some heads. [His] entire plan has an objective of GROWTH, JOBS, HIGHER WAGES — now execute."
Just weeks after a blue wave swept elections across the country, a series of recent polls this week suggest Trump’s approval rating is slipping as the administration copes with the fallout from the Epstein files and a turbulent economy.
After months of resistance to making the Epstein files public, Trump on Wednesday signed the bill to release the highly anticipated records. The president, who campaigned on affordability, has also faced concerns over the economy; while the U.S. added 119,000 jobs in September, unemployment reached 4.4 percent and grocery prices remain high.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll this week found Trump’s approval rating dipped to 38 percent, his lowest since returning to the White House. Even among Republicans, his approval rating has dropped to 82 percent, down from 87 percent earlier in the month, the poll found.
"What we're seeing is probably the biggest test of his presidency in terms of his grip on the Republican Party," Mike Ongstad, an independent strategist, told Reuters.
A mere 20 percent of Americans approve of how Trump has handled the Epstein case, with 70 percent of respondents saying they think the federal government is hiding information about Epstein's clients, the poll found.
In a Fox News survey published Wednesday, 41 percent of respondents approved of the job Trump is doing, while 58 percent disapproved.
More than three-quarters of voters — 76 percent — said they view the economy negatively, with 46 percent saying they’ve been personally “hurt” by the Trump administration’s economic policies.
Trump has repeatedly blamed former President Joe Biden for the rising prices. Just this week, the president said: “The Biden Administration started the affordability crisis — and my Administration is ending it.”
But Americans don’t seem to buy that. More than half of respondents — 62 percent — said Trump is to blame for the current economic conditions while 32 percent blame Biden.
Still, Trump officials told Axios that they were optimistic the economy would turn around in the first quarter of 2026.
A Marquette Law School poll Thursday similarly found that while Trump’s overall job performance approval stands at 43 percent, that figure drops significantly when it comes to his handling of the Epstein files and cost of living concerns. Regarding his handling of information about Jeffrey Epstein, 29 percent of respondents approved while 74 percent disapproved. Asked about inflation and cost of living, just 28 percent approved and 72 percent disapproved.
Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Mayor-elect, campaigned on promises to make the Big Apple more affordable by implementing policies such as freezing rents and offering free public buses. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump also campaigned on affordability, vowing to lower grocery prices if he were to reclaim the White House. The pair plan to meet in the Oval Office Friday.
The survey also showed that 55 percent of registered voters say they would support a Democratic candidate for Congress in their district if the election were held today, while only 41 percent of voters said they would support a Republican.
Earlier this month, Democrats won key elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. Following the Democratic sweep, the president conceded: “I don’t think it was good for Republicans, I’m not sure it was good for anybody.”
As the 2026 midterm elections near, a redistricting battle is underway across the country. In California, voters this month approved a redrawn congressional map that would give Democrats five additional seats. The Justice Department sued the state’s governor and secretary of state last week over the redrawn map.
In response, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office said: “These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court.”
California’s new map was meant to counteract redistricting efforts in Texas, where the state could soon gain five additional GOP seats in Congress in the midterms after state lawmakers approved a new map. This week, however, a panel of federal judges blocked Texas’ new congressional map.
The state appealed to the Supreme Court. “This ruling is clearly erroneous and undermines the authority the U.S. Constitution assigns to the Texas Legislature by imposing a different map by judicial edict,” Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott said.
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