President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have dropped to their lowest level since the start of his second term.
According to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll released on Sunday, only 37 percent of adults approve of Trump’s work as president. Meanwhile, 63 percent disapprove, including 50 percent who disapprove strongly. Some of that strong disapproval comes from Trump’s handling of skyrocketing costs for most households: Among the over 32,000 American adults that NBC News surveyed over two weeks in March and April, 52 percent said they “strongly disapprove” and 16 percent “somewhat disapprove” of Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living.
That’s a large disapproval jump compared to a few months ago. When NBC News asked the same inflation question to Americans last August, 45 percent noted they “strongly disapprove”—seven percentage points lower than this month’s results.
The NBC results also suggest that Trump is beginning to lose his voter base. The number of Republicans who approve of Trump’s performance on inflation sank by 10 percentage points (from 83 to 73 percent) since last summer. The poll also found that overall support for the president dropped by four percentage points (from 87 to 83 percent) among his Republican support in just two months.
While that’s true, it’s worth remembering that congresspeople and senators see these results, and take them into account when deciding whether to support or oppose trump. If his approval rating gets low enough, other politicians will start seeing it as detrimental to their careers to support him. If just a few republican senators or congressmen start actively opposing him, his power will be significantly reduced. If it goes low enough they might even decide that it’s in their own best interest to either impeach or 25th him. The last two are a loong shot, but the point stands that terrible approval ratings can actually have tangible impact on things.