U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
When polls show President Donald Trump with low approval ratings, there is a major caveat: He is still quite popular with his hardcore MAGA base. And his stranglehold on the GOP was evident when some conservatives he was angry with — including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and at least five state lawmakers in Indiana — were recently voted out of office via Republican primaries. But according to New York Times research, a fair amount of conservative GOP voters are looking to a post-Trump future for their party.
New York Times journalists Patricia Mazzei, Ruth Igielnik and Camille Baker report that a recent Times/Siena College poll showed that Trump's "grip on the Republican Party remains indisputable" — although "there are signs that some in the GOP coalition are looking to move beyond the Trump era."
"Thirty-seven percent want to see the party's next nominee move in a different direction, including a majority of Republican-leaning independents," Mazzei, Igielnik and Baker explain in the Times. "And divisions are emerging even among the president's strongest supporters when it comes to questions about the economy and foreign policy, as the war with Iran has driven up gas prices."
Trump, they add, "remains overwhelmingly popular among the party faithful" even though he is struggling with "the wider American electorate."
"Three-quarters of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters approve of his job performance, the poll found, even as the president's approval rating among the wider American electorate has fallen to a second-term low of 37 percent," Mazzei, Igielnik and Baker report. "The president's popularity within his party has helped him oust several Republican elected officials who have crossed him by supporting challengers in party primaries in Louisiana and Indiana…. But in a general election where Democrats and independents who lean toward Democrats will also vote — often at higher rates than Republicans — the dissatisfaction illustrated by Mr. Trump's sagging approval ratings and the unpopularity of the war could still cost Republicans the control of Congress."
Nathan Coletti, who is 49, voted for Trump in 2024 but now regrets that vote.
Coletti told the Times, "Unfortunately, now, we're fighting a war that, to be honest, I have no idea why we’re there. And I would tell you that I am actually eembarrassed that I voted for hi."
