Fox News hosts launched into a full-blown meltdown as polling showed President Donald Trump’s approval ratings had cratered to new lows.
The reactions unfolded on Fox & Friends as co-host Ainsley Earhardt recited the bleak findings of a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week. Earhardt noted that Trump “ran on closing the border and… helping the economy.”
She then pointed to his deteriorating numbers: Trump’s approval rating fell to 38 percent, the lowest it had been since returning to the White House for a second term in January. The president’s weakening numbers have rung alarm bells for the GOP, with a top White House aide admitting last month that the party faces trouble ahead.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday surveyed 1,017 U.S. adults and carried a margin of error of about three points. The latest numbers reflected a two-point drop from early November and a nine-point decline from the 47 percent support he held at the start of his second term. The figure hovered near the lowest ratings of his first term and was only slightly higher than former President Joe Biden’s low of 35 percent. Trump’s own first-term approval once fell to 33 percent.
Co-host Lawrence Jones pushed back against how the public was judging Trump’s performance.
“First of all, I’m not going to tell the American people how to feel because I think Joe Biden made that mistake of saying hey, you know, it’s transitory, you’re not feeling it. But it has only been nine months,” said Jones.
Jones argued that the public reaction was premature. “The Big Beautiful Bill has not—it was passed, but it’s not been implemented just yet. There’s still some time for that, so is he giving people—and then when it comes to some of the energy policy, not all of that has been implemented just yet,” he continued.
The co-host added: “So I’m not saying, hold on a little bit, but I am saying, it’s kind of unfair, when someone has been there for nine months, to put it all on them.”
A separate CNBC All-America Economic Survey released last month showed Trump facing similar skepticism.
Just 42 percent of respondents approved of Trump’s economic performance, while 55 percent disapproved—the lowest of any CNBC poll across his two terms. His overall approval dropped to 44 percent, with disapproval rising by one percentage point to 52 percent.
The polling comes days after a series of stinging election defeats for the GOP, when Democrats secured victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. Shortly afterward, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair admitted that the GOP faces trouble ahead.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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