Trump Loses Ground on Several Personal Traits as Approval Rating Slips – Pew Research Center
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This Pew Research Center analysis examines Americans’ views of Trump and the two major parties.
Pew Research Center conducts research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. We have studied Americans’ views of politics and major policy issues, including views of the president, for decades.
Learn more about Pew Research Center.
We surveyed 5,103 U.S. adults from April 20 to 26, 2026. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population.
Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.
Americans’ assessments of President Donald Trump have declined steadily over the last several months. His job approval rating now stands at 34% – the lowest mark of his second term. He has also lost ground across a variety of personal attributes and issue areas.
One of the steepest declines has been in the share of Americans who say Trump “keeps his promises.” Today, 38% say this describes Trump very or fairly well, down from 43% last August and 51% shortly after his reelection in November 2024.
The share who describe Trump as “mentally sharp” (44%) is also down since last August (from 48%).
Most Americans continue to see Trump as someone who stands up for what he believes in: 64% say this describes him well. But that share is down since last summer, too, from 68%.
A new national survey by Pew Research Center – conducted April 20-26 among 5,103 U.S. adults – also finds that public confidence in Trump on several key issues facing the nation has declined:
Related: Americans remain critical of Trump administration’s approach to Iran
Confidence in Trump to make good decisions on economic policy has shifted less over this period – 42% express confidence today, while 44% did in August. The economy is among Trump’s best-rated issues, though fewer overall are confident in him than not.
Declines in Trump’s standing have come at least as much from Republicans as from Democrats. Still, Republicans continue to offer generally positive views of the president, his personal traits and his performance on issues.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents:
By comparison, Democrats and Democratic leaners continue to near-universally disapprove of Trump, little changed from the earliest days of his term. Just 5% today approve of his job performance.
Note: Most interviews were completed prior to the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
While most Trump voters still approve of the way he is handling his job as president, that share is shrinking: 78% of the president’s 2024 voters currently approve of him, down from 83% in January and 95% in the early days of his term.
Within Trump’s 2024 coalition, nine-in-ten adults or more across demographic groups approved of his job performance in the weeks after he took office. But Trump’s younger and Hispanic voters are now substantially less likely than his older and White voters to approve of his job performance:
Trump’s approval rating has also declined substantially among those who did not vote in 2024: 26% of these U.S. adults now approve of his job performance, down from 30% in January and 45% in early 2025.
Nearly all 2024 Kamala Harris voters (98%) disapprove of Trump’s job performance, little changed over the course of his term.
A majority of Americans (56%) say the overall level of ethics and honesty in the federal government has fallen over the course of Trump’s term.
Far fewer (19%) say it has risen, while about a quarter (24%) say it has stayed about the same.
In the first two weeks of Trump’s second term, 47% expected the level of ethics and honesty to fall, while 31% thought it would rise.
Shortly after Trump took office in January 2025, 59% of Republicans said they expected the level of ethics would rise with Trump as president, while 11% said it would fall.
Today, 37% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the level of ethics in government has risen with Trump as president, while 23% say it has fallen.
Democrats and Democratic leaners overwhelmingly say the level of ethics and honesty has fallen over Trump’s term (88%). In the wake of Trump’s 2025 inauguration, 82% said they expected this to happen.
Following news about the renaming of an airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue, and other government buildings in Washington, D.C.:
Just 17% of Republicans say it would be acceptable to name government buildings after Trump while he is still in office, while 33% think this would be acceptable after his presidency.
About two-in-ten (21%) say this is not acceptable at all, while nearly three-in-ten (28%) are not sure.
Three-quarters of Democrats (77%) say naming government buildings after Trump would not be acceptable at any point. Just 3% say it’s acceptable while he is president, while another 11% see it as acceptable after his presidency. Democrats are far less likely than Republicans to express uncertainty on this question (just 9% are not sure).
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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.
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