President Donald Trump's approval ratings continue to plummet nearly a year into his second term, and now, per a report from Newsweek, he is even losing a critical amount of support from Ohio and Iowa — two states he carried in all three of his elections.
A new survey of voter sentiments from Morning Consult revealed the degree to which Trump is slipping in these two states generally thought of as leaning red consistently. In each state, his approval rating based on the firm's findings is underwater, meaning that more respondents disapprove of his performance as president than approve of it. The breakdown of each statistic is also the same in each state, with 48 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving.
Morning Consult found that, overall, Trump's approval rating was only above water in 22 states. This is, in one respect, a slight improvement on his first term, when a similar survey found that he was above water in only 21 states.
Ohio and Iowa broke for Trump in all three races where he ran for president, with 56 percent of Iowa voters and 55 percent of Ohio voters casting their ballots for him in the 2024 race. Despite that recent trend, the two states were once viewed as more moderate swing states, with both breaking for Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 presidential races. While Ohio went for George W. Bush in both of his races, Iowa only went to him in 2004, breaking for Al Gore in 2000.
As some of the less deep-red states, Ohio and Iowa's approval of Trump going underwater could be interpreted as another sign of how much the electorate is swinging away from him. It could also have major implications for the chances of Democratic candidates in the states for the 2026 midterms. Ohio will hold a special election in November 2026 to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance, while Iowa will hold a gubernatorial race. In the latter case, Democrats have a shot to take the governor's office for the first time since 2006, with Democratic candidate Rob Sand recently gaining an early polling lead over his Republican opponents.
The rest of the polling picture for Trump does not have much good news to offer him. Last month, a poll conducted by Fox News, an outlet typically known for favoring conservative politicians, found that 76% of voters viewed the economy in a negative light. Despite Trump's claims that his economy is thriving after Joe Biden's presidency, a similar Fox News poll from November 2024, when Biden was still in office, only found that 70% of voters viewed the economy in a negative light.
Another recent poll, conducted by The Economist and YouGov, found that Trump's approval rating was at its lowest point since he returned to the White House in January, with only 39% of respondents approving of his second presidency and 58% disapproving, putting him underwater by 19 points.