Trump Approval Slips as Democrats Gain on Congress Support

Democrats have opened a five-point lead in support for Congress, widening a narrow February edge and signaling that Donald Trump’s weakening numbers are starting to spill into the broader fight over Washington. The shift comes as Trump’s overall job approval stood at 39% approve and 56% disapprove in a February poll of 2,589 U.S. adults, a result with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 points.

The decline is not limited to a single flash point. Trump drew 34% approval and 64% disapproval on tariffs, and 32% approval and 65% disapproval on inflation, two issues that go directly to household costs and the state of the economy. Nearly half of respondents, 48%, said the economy had gotten worse since Trump became president in January 2025, while only 29% said it had gotten better. That gap suggests the problem is less a temporary dip than a broader souring on his economic stewardship.

The polling also showed a crowded and unsettled trust picture on the cost of living. Just 32% said they trusted Trump to reduce prices, while 31% chose Democrats in Congress and 33% said neither. That near-three-way split matters because it leaves neither party with a clear ownership advantage on affordability, even as prices remain one of the most durable political pressures heading into the next election cycle.

Immigration remains one of Trump’s stronger issues, but even there the public is divided. Fifty percent supported deporting all undocumented immigrants, while 48% opposed the policy. The numbers point to a country split not just on enforcement, but on how far federal power should go in carrying it out. In that kind of environment, Democrats’ improved standing on Congress may reflect not a surge of enthusiasm, but a softer erosion in confidence among voters who are dissatisfied with Trump yet not fully committed to the opposition.

The broader political backdrop reinforces that strain. A separate poll on Iran found Americans split almost evenly on next steps, with 48% favoring a peace deal even if it left the United States worse off and 46% preferring pressure for a better deal even if military action resumed. Another poll found public rejection of Trump’s ballroom project by a wide margin. Taken together, the results show a president under pressure on costs, tariffs, foreign policy and personal priorities, while Democrats’ five-point edge on Congress suggests the opening is widening just as the midterm cycle begins to take shape.