President Donald Trump’s net approval rating on the economy has plunged to a historic low, according to a new aggregate of polls analyzed by CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten.
The economy was once Trump’s strongest political asset, and this collapse undercuts the central argument that powered his return to the White House.
Independent voters, who were decisive in Trump’s reelection, have moved sharply against him, threatening his broader political standing.
“The ultimate poll was November 5th, 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek in a statement.
“The President is working tirelessly to create jobs, cool inflation, and increase housing affordability—and this is just the beginning as his agenda continues taking effect.”
Why It Matters
Trump won a second term in large part because voters trusted him more on the economy than his Democratic opponent.
That advantage has now flipped into a major liability, at a scale no modern president has faced this early in a term.
What To Know
Trump often boasts that he created a “historic” economy. According to the data, that claim is accurate—but not in the way he intends.
CNN’s Enten, speaking during a segment with anchor John Berman, laid out what he described as an unprecedented collapse in public confidence in Trump’s economic leadership.
Using his own aggregate of national polls, Enten said Trump’s current net approval rating on the economy stands at minus 32 points. That figure alone would be damaging, but the trajectory makes it worse.
At the start of Trump’s second term, he held a plus-six net approval rating on the economy.
That means opinion has shifted nearly 40 points in just over a year, a level of decline Enten argued is almost unheard of in presidential polling.
For comparison, at the same point in Trump’s first term, his net approval on the economy was plus two.
Back then, the economy consistently acted as a political life raft, keeping his overall approval numbers afloat even during periods of intense controversy.
This time, Enten said, it has become “an anchor” dragging his presidency down.
Trump Now Historically Weak on Economy
Placed in historical context, the numbers become even more stark.
Enten said Trump now holds the worst net economic approval rating at this point in a presidency—or any term—of any president on record. Not just worse than his own previous performance, but worse than every modern predecessor measured.
Joe Biden, whom Trump regularly attacked over inflation and economic management, was at minus 25 points at a comparable stage—seven points better than Trump is now.
George W. Bush also stood at minus 25. Even Jimmy Carter, long used by Trump as a cautionary tale of economic mismanagement, was at minus 22, a full ten points higher.
“This is the type of history that no president likes to make,” Enten said.
The damage is being driven overwhelmingly by one group: independents.
Among independent voters, Trump’s net approval on the economy has collapsed to minus 55 points.
In January 2025, that same group rated him at plus one. That represents a 56-point swing, a shift Enten described as extraordinary by historical standards.
In Trump’s first term, independents rated his economic performance roughly neutral at the same point. Now, they have moved sharply—and decisively—against him.
According to Enten, this isn’t a subtle trend or a slow erosion. It is a break.
Independents, he said, are “absolutely abandoning him,” driving the broader collapse in the president’s standing with the general electorate.
Such swings are rare enough that political scientists usually encounter them in textbooks rather than in real time.
Historically, rapid collapses of this size tend to reshape presidencies, limiting political flexibility and complicating nearly every policy fight that follows.
As Enten put it bluntly, these are the kinds of numbers that “absolutely ruin presidents.”
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