MAGA buyer’s remorse driving Trump’s plummeting approval: analysis

President Donald Trump's approval ratings hit record lows this week across numerous polls, and according to a new breakdown from The Hill, this decline is being driven in large part by buyer's remorse from his MAGA base.

In a report published Wednesday, The Hill cited a new poll from YouGov and The Economist, which found that only 35 percent of respondents approved of Trump's performance as president, while 58 percent disapproved, putting him a substantial 23 points underwater. That was the worst result on record for the president from that particular poll, matching the two lowest points for his predecessor, Joe Biden, both of which came during his final year in office.

Trump's YouGov approval has seen a steady decline in recent weeks, sitting at 18 points underwater last week, 19 points the week before, and 15 points the week before that. The polling firm only recorded a lower approval rating, 34 percent, once across Trump's two terms in November 2017.

According to a breakdown of this new poll's specific demographics, The Hill found that Trump has seen a remarkable erosion in support from his core MAGA base. The outlet attributed this trend to issues like the declining stock market and the DHS shutdown, as well as the war in Iran, which broke his core 2024 campaign promise to avoid foreign wars. While poll respondents who voted for Trump in 2024 still supported him by a considerable margin, the number has dwindled considerably in the last three weeks.

"The decline in Trump’s approval rating is largely driven by a softening of support from Trump’s own base, which has come amid a ramping up of U.S. military action in Iran, a partial government shutdown and a decline in the stock market," The Hill's report detailed. "The latest survey shows, among 2024 Trump voters, 76 percent approve of his handling of the presidency, compared to 19 percent who disapprove. That net +57 approval marks a 15-point drop from three weeks ago, when 84 percent approved and 12 percent disapproved."

Trump's approval ratings among older voters, who have tended to support the Republican Party over the decades, and younger voters, who swung considerably towards him in 2024, are also showing major signs of erosion as his second term wears on.

"The latest survey marks a new second-term low for Trump’s net approval among Americans 65 and over, who’ve registered a net -17 percentage point approval of the president, with 57 percent disapproving and 40 percent approving of his handling of his job in office," the report continued. "Last week, net approval was -10 points, after starting this presidency at net -1 percentage points. Voters under 30 have also seen a sharp drop in support, with net approval at -40 percentage points this week, down from net -25 points last week, -39 percentage points the week before and net -29 points the week before that."