President Donald Trump is facing brutal numbers in nearly every aspect of his first year back at the White House, according to a new poll released Friday.
A CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, found that a majority of Americans believe that Trump has focused on the wrong priorities during his second term — and 58% say his presidency so far is a “failure.”
His overall job approval rating is 39%, the poll showed, while he stands within 3 percentage points of that overall figure on his performance on the economy, immigration, foreign policy, health care and federal government management.
Per the poll, the economy was rated as the country’s top concern by around a two-to-one margin over any other issue, while 61% of voters said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of it. The results signal that Americans believe the president is doing too little to address the problem, which is expected to shape the 2026 midterm elections.
Three in 10 respondents rated the economy positively, while most held largely negative views — both which have remained stable over the last two years, according to the poll. But 55% of adults believe the president’s policies have exacerbated economic conditions in the country, compared to 32% who believe they have helped.
A 64% majority think Trump has not done enough to reduce the price of goods, and 32% say that he understands problems that ordinary Americans face on a daily basis, the poll revealed. Overall, slightly over 4 in 10 Americans expect the economy to be good a year from now, which is down from 56% before Trump was sworn into office last January.
Among the GOP, 42% believe that Trump should be doing more to address the issue, including Republicans who fall under the “Make America Great Again” movement. The president, however, is still viewed overwhelmingly favorably among his base: nearly 9 in 10 Republicans gave positive marks when asked to rate his performance, while the figure is nearly universal among his MAGA supporters.
Following the economy, voters chose American democracy as their second-highest concern, with 58% arguing that the president’s use of the presidency and the executive branch has gone too far. The number includes his changes to the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian (62%) and his crackdown on federal programs (57%).
Trump was also seen more negatively on whether he has fulfilled some of the pledges he made before and during his inauguration.
- Restoring safety to the United States: 35% say he’s made progress / 39% say he’s made things worse
- Bringing law and order back to our cities: 33% say he’s made progress / 42% say he’s made things worse
- Bringing back free speech to America: 27% say he’s made progress / 41% say he’s made things worse
- Keeping our children safe, healthy and disease-free: 26% say he’s made progress / 40% say he’s made things worse
- Being a peacemaker and a unifier: 25% say he’s made progress / 47% say he’s made things worse
- Stopping the weaponization of the Justice Department: 21% say he’s made progress / 41% say he’s made things worse
The CNN poll was conducted from Jan. 9-12 among 1,209 U.S. adults. It has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.
