President Donald Trump’s public standing has continued to erode through the summer of 2026, with the network that once delivered his most favorable numbers now recording some of his worst. Fox News polling has held his job approval at 39% for three consecutive months, one point above the lowest mark the network has ever registered for him.
The Fox News survey, conducted July 17-20, 2026, among 1,003 registered voters, found the president underwater on every major issue tested. He drew 33% approval on the economy against 67% disapproval, and 27% approval on inflation against 73% disapproval. Immigration, long his strongest category, came in at 42% approval and 57% disapproval, while his handling of Iran registered 34% to 66%.
Three-quarters of voters rated the economy negatively in that poll, and roughly the same share said inflation had caused them financial hardship, including 34% who described that hardship as serious — up from 26% a year earlier. Democrats led the generic congressional ballot by seven points, 53% to 46%, the highest share either party has recorded in Fox News polling since 1996.
Fox News’ May 15-18, 2026, survey had already produced the highest disapproval figure recorded during Trump’s presidency in the network’s polling, at 61% against 39% approval. That poll also put his standing among Republicans at 80%, the lowest point of his second term, with approval among non-MAGA Republicans down to 54%. Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll alongside Democrat Chris Anderson, attributed the slide to cost-of-living pressure, saying “it’s all about affordability” and warning that core constituencies were wavering.
A separate Fox News Texas survey, conducted July 23-27, 2026, produced one of the summer’s most striking findings. In a state Trump carried by 14 points in 2024, 54% of Texas voters viewed him unfavorably against 45% favorably — nine points underwater. Among Texas independents, the split ran 18% favorable to 78% unfavorable. The same poll showed Democratic state Rep. James Talarico leading Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton 51% to 48% in the state’s U.S. Senate race, with roughly one in four non-MAGA Republicans saying they would back the Democrat.
Polling averages tell a similar story. Trump’s net approval fell to negative 20.6 on July 30, 2026, in the Silver Bulletin average maintained by statistician Nate Silver — a second-term low, and a weaker reading than any point in his first term, when he bottomed out near negative 19 after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The average stood at negative 20.4 as of August 12.
Tariff-driven inflation and cost-of-living pressure run through nearly every one of those numbers, the same forces that first pulled his ratings down more than a year ago.
Where the slide began: April 2025
Multiple surveys conducted in April 2025, as Trump neared 100 days of his second term, showed his public standing had already deteriorated to levels unprecedented among post-World War II presidents during comparable periods of their second terms.
The Pew Research Center found in a survey conducted April 7-13, 2025, that the president’s standing had fallen to 40%, a seven-percentage-point decline since February. The research organization noted several major policy initiatives—including tariff increases, federal department reductions, and widespread deployment of executive orders—faced predominantly negative public assessments.
Economic concerns were central to the president’s deteriorating position even then. Only 37% approved of his economic stewardship according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, while a Fox News survey placed that figure at 38%, with 56% registering disapproval.
On inflation specifically, the April 2025 Fox News data showed 59% disapproved of Trump’s performance against 33% who approved. His tariff strategy faced similar resistance, with 58% disapproving and just 33% supporting his approach.
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey documented Trump’s weakest economic performance metrics to that point in his presidency, with 43% approving and 55% disapproving — the first time he had gone net negative on the economy in any CNBC poll while in office. A separate Gallup survey released the same week found confidence in his economic decision-making at 45%, down 14 points from 59% the previous November.
Polling at the time showed 47% identified food and consumer goods prices as their primary economic worry, with housing costs and stock market performance also generating anxiety.
The president’s overall rating stood at 44% in the April 2025 Fox News survey, a five-point slide from the 49% he registered in the network’s March poll. His net position sat at negative 11 points, calculated as 44% approval minus 55% disapproval.
Reuters/Ipsos placed his approval at 42%, then the lowest point since his second term began.
Comparisons to Trump’s first 100 days revealed an unusual pattern: he had achieved 45% approval at that earlier milestone, meaning his 2025 performance trailed his own first-term numbers.
The gap widened further when measured against other presidents. At their 100-day marks, Joe Biden registered 54% approval, Barack Obama reached 62%, and George W. Bush stood at 63%—all significantly ahead of where Trump sat in April 2025.
Trump criticized the network’s methodology in response to the Fox News findings, claiming the “pollster has gotten me, and MAGA, wrong for years.”
Reuters/Ipsos data suggested Americans harbored reservations about executive power expansion. The survey found 57% rejected the notion that presidents may appropriately withhold university funding based on disagreement, while 66% opposed presidential control over national cultural institutions.
One policy area where Trump still maintained positive numbers in April 2025 was border security, with 55% approving in the Fox News poll, his strongest performance category at the time. By May 2026 that figure had fallen to an even 49% approval and 51% disapproval.
Foreign policy presented a different picture even in 2025, with 54% disapproving and 40% approving according to Fox News.
New York Magazine’s analysis tracked Trump’s net approval from positive 11.6% in January 2025 to negative 7% that April, a swing of 18.6 percentage points. The subsequent 16 months carried it a further 13 points into negative territory.
The declining economic ratings carried particular significance given Trump’s 2024 campaign centered on pledges to reduce inflation and strengthen the economy—themes that proved central to his electoral victory.
What read in April 2025 as a rough start for an administration that had emphasized economic expertise has, sixteen months on, hardened into the defining problem of the second term — and, with the midterms scheduled for November 3, 2026, an increasingly urgent one for congressional Republicans.
