President Trump’s disastrous handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the cost-of-living crisis has seen his approval ratings dip to just 38 percent, the lowest since his return to power.
Trump’s popularity with Republicans, once considered untouchable, has also started to wane, dropping from 87 percent to 82 percent as the president’s growing alienation from his base has seen cracks begin to form in the MAGA coalition.
Polling data from Ipsos/Reuters shows a steady slump in the president’s popularity since his return to office, dropping nine points from his high of 47 percent in January to come almost level with Joe Biden’s all-time low of 35 percent.
The president was forced into a humiliating defeat on Tuesday after the Republican-controlled House and Senate both voted to release the Epstein files.
Although Trump, a convicted felon, has weathered scandals throughout his career, his handling of the Epstein files has proven to be damaging to his reputation in a way few others have managed.
Just 20 percent of Americans, including only 44 percent of Republicans, said they approve of the president’s handling of the Epstein situation. An overwhelming majority of Americans, including 87 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans, also said they believe the government is hiding information about Epstein’s “clients.”
Republican strategist Doug Heye told Reuters the slide had more to do with inflation than Epstein.
“It’s all about prices,” he told the outlet. “People are furious when they go out and spend money at the grocery store, and they can’t believe what they are spending.”
Just 26 percent of Americans said they thought Trump was doing a good job of managing living expenses, down from 29 percent earlier this month. Sixty-five percent of Americans, including one in three Republicans, disapprove of his handling of the cost-of-living crisis, which has driven inflation to historic highs.
Trump’s sliding approval rating also comes amid some bruising defeats, including his messy breakup with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over the Epstein Files, and his failure to pressure Republicans in Indiana into gerrymandering key congressional districts.
“There’s an unprecedented split in Donald Trump’s base,” former California GOP political director Mike Madrid told WSJ. “It’s a sign that even Donald Trump is not immune to the physics of politics, which is that a lame-duck leader is going to start to see people abandon him.”
But analyst Charlie Cook warned against any premature signs that the president is losing his touch. “They’re kind of stepping out, but gingerly,” he told the newspaper. “It’s a change from what we’ve seen, but I’m not going to hold my breath to see Republicans thumbing their noses at him with any regularity.”
Trump’s lowest approval rating across both terms came in December 2017, when it dropped to a historic low of 33 percent.
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