Trump’s popularity slides in new UMass Amherst poll. Here’s how it happened
Buffeted by his handling of the so-called "Epstein Files," and his administration's aggressive President Donald Trump's approval rating has taken a hit, according to a new nationwide University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll .
Barely a third of the poll's 1,000 respondents (38%) said they approved of the Republican president after six months in office, while 58% said they disapproved.
That's a 6-point dip since the last UMass poll in April. The survey, conducted between July 25 and July 30, marks the university's first public pulse-taking on Trump's relationship with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein .
The poll had a margin of error of 3.5%.
Seven in 10 respondents said he hasn't handled the Epstein situation well, while 81% blamed him for hiding information on the case.
The Epstein case has dominated news coverage in recent weeks after the Justice Department said it will not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
The decision has infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up.
Right now, "Trump looks to be on the ropes with the American public," UMass Amherst Polling Director Tatishe Nteta said.
While Trump remains popular with Republicans and conservatives, his time in office is "viewed more negatively across genders, generations, classes and races, with majorities of each of these groups disapproving of Trump's performance," Nteta continued.
But with more than three years to go in his second, and final term, "there is still time for [Trump] to right the ship and fulfil the promises that catapulted him to the presidency, but the president is not off to the start he or his supporters envisioned," Nteta concluded.
Though he was still underwater, Trump's approval rating stood at 44%-51% in the April UMass canvass, buoyed by a generally positive assessment of his handling of immigration.
That's not the case now. Trump's approval on that issue sank by 9 points, from 50% to 41% in the new poll.
"Immigration has been central to Trump's political campaigns and his strongest issue in his first few months in office, but the percentage of people who say he is handling it well has dropped substantially from 50% four months ago to just 41% today, a 9-point drop," UMass political science professor Ray La Raja said.
Public confidence on other issues thought to be in Trump's wheelhouse, including inflation, jobs, and tariffs, also has taken a hit, with clear majorities saying he has handled them "not very well," or "not well at all," in the new poll.
Trump came into office "believing that he had limited time to make the changes he promised his most ardent supporters, and moved with unparalleled speed to enact these changes, including sometimes by legally questionable means," UMass political science professor Jesse Rhodes said.
"Now, it seems, he's reaping the consequences as a large majority of Americans don't like these changes," he said.
Trump and other recent presidents haven't been helped by the increased polarization of the nation's electorate, UMass political science professor Alexander Theodoridis said.
"Partisans just aren't willing to evaluate presidents from the other side positively and are reluctant to say negative things about presidents from their own party," Theodoridis offered.
"Gone are the days when George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush both achieved approval numbers over 90%. This is certainly true for Trump, who is likely the most polarizing figure in modern American politics," he continued. "Even in this polarized environment, though, Trump's approval ratings are low by any standard – he is very close to the practical floor."
But the ongoing furor over Epstein has "brought Americans together," Nteta said.
"While on most issues, we see clear and persistent generational, class and racial divisions; on Epstein, Americans across these divides speak with one voice," he continued. "This controversy has even resulted in agreement across partisan lines as majorities of Democrats and Republicans support a special prosecutor and believe a list of clients exists, and disapproval of Trump's handling of the whole matter is surprisingly seen among members of Trump's base, as 43% of Republicans and conservatives indicate that Trump has not handled this issue well."
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