U.S. President Donald Trump during the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) annual fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
President Donald Trump won his second term in 2024 thanks to a volley of battleground states swinging unexpectedly in his direction. Critical so-called “blue wall” states fell to Trump in the wee hours of the November 2024 ballot count.
But next time around, Wisconsin does not look like it will be among them, reports The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Donald Trump is now getting his worst poll ratings ever as president in this battleground state, and that doesn’t bode well for Wisconsin Republicans on the 2026 ballot,” reports the Sentinel.
President Trump’s approval ratings are still sliding, according to a new survey by Marquette Law School, with 42 percent of registered voters approving of his performance and 56 percent disapproving.
“The poll suggests a very challenging climate for Republicans heading into a midterm election where voters will choose their members of Congress, their state legislators and a new governor,” said the Sentinel, which described the new numbers as “peak disapproval,” primarily because Trump hit his worst disapproval of any of the 28 Wisconsin surveys Marquette has conducted during Trump’s two terms in office.
“The highest disapproval Trump ever registered in his first term was 54 percent during the 2020 fall campaign,” said the Sentinel, two points lower than today.
Worse for Trump (and likely Republicans) is the sheer intensity with which Badger State voters despise the president. Marquette asked voters to cast their feelings in the “strongly” or “somewhat” category and 48 percent fell into the “strongly disapprove” category. This, said the Sentinel, is a reliable indicator of how unlikely voters are to change their minds about their dislike for the White House occupant.
Additionally, nearly 30 percent of Wisconsin Independent voters have had it with him, and surveys show and state Republicans, largely, just aren’t feeling Trump anymore and may not show up for the polls in November.
“Trump has a long way to go to get back up to minus 3 in 2026, and we’re in the middle of a war that is driving up gas prices,” said Sentinel analyst Craig Gilbert. “… [T]he political red flags are abundant right now for Republicans. If they have a bad 2026 election in Wisconsin, no one can say they couldn’t see it coming.”