Trump approval rating slides to new second-term low in latest poll

After a brief reprieve earlier in the week, President Donald Trump's approval rating resumed its decline, falling to a new second-term low in the latest Marquette University Law School poll.

The poll, released Tuesday, Sept. 15, found that 37% of Americans approved of Trump's job performance, down three percentage points from Marquette's July poll.

The president's approval rating in Tuesday's poll marks his lowest in Marquette University's tracking since his return to the White House in early 2025. Before Sept. 15, Trump's previous low was in June, when the poll recorded a 38% approval rating.

In addition to Trump's low approval rating, Tuesday's poll also showed a now-continuous drop in the number of Americans who strongly approve of the president's performance. According to Marquette University's poll, at the beginning of Trump's second term, 29% of Americans said they strongly approved of the president; today, that number sits at 15%.

The latest Marquette University Law School poll was conducted Sept. 2-9 among 1,023 U.S. adults. The poll's margin of error was 3.3 percentage points.

An unpopular Trump boosts Democrats

As Trump continues to struggle with his approval rating among Americans, Tuesday's poll shows Democrats may have increased their chances to control the House of Representatives and Senate ahead of November's midterms.

According to the Marquette University Law School poll, Democrats lead Republicans by 13 percentage points among likely voters in a generic congressional ballot. Democrats' performance in the poll marks a seven-percentage-point improvement compared to July, when the lead was six percentage points.

Among registered voters, Democrats hold a similarly comfortable 12-point lead. Democrats' improvement among registered voters was even more drastic, as in July they only led the GOP by two percentage points, according to Marquette University's poll.

As Democrats improved in the poll, Republicans have had a tougher time as their support in the generic congressional ballot dropped four percentage points compared with polling conducted in July.

Trump's approval slips in eight issues

Tuesday's poll also showed Trump's approval slipping on eight different issues: border security, immigration, foreign policy, tariffs, the economy, the war with Iran, gas prices and inflation. These issues all saw drops compared to the last poll in July.

Trump's historically strong issues, such as immigration and border security, also saw drops, with the latter slipping below 50% approval. Meanwhile, only 19% of polled Americans approve of Trump's handling of inflation and the cost of living, and 20% approve of the president's handling of gas prices.

On Wednesday, the national average price of a gallon of gas was $4.36, up 14 cents from a week ago and a more than $1 jump from September 2025, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Good news, bad news for Trump

Despite Trump's approval rating slip on Tuesday, the president received some better news the previous day.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, Sept. 14, Trump's approval rating got a slight boost, rising to 35%, up two percentage points from previous editions of the same poll.

The president's slight improvement came after three straight weeks of the lowest approval numbers he had seen in Reuters/Ipsos tracking since his return to the White House in 2025.

However, Trump's improvement did not seem to boost Republicans' performance in a generic congressional ballot. According to the same poll, the GOP ran behind Democrats by seven percentage points, the widest gap since the beginning of Trump's second term.

What do polling averages show?

While individual polls vary, major polling averages continue to place Trump in negative territory overall:

• RealClearPolitics (Sept. 16): 40% approve, 57.8% disapprove
• New York Times (Sept. 16): 39% approve, 58% disapprove
• Silver Bulletin (Sept. 16): 38.4% approve, 58.5% disapprove

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump approval rating slides to new second-term low in latest poll

Reporting by Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 11:00 AM.