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Inside Trump’s job approval crisis

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Cite

York, B. (2026, October 16). Inside Trump’s job approval crisis. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/4768936/inside-trump-job-approval-rating-crisis-polls/

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Washington Examiner · collected 2026-10-16 · by Byron York

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump faces a significant job approval crisis, with only 36% approving according to a recent Fox News poll, compared to an already low 38.7% average from RealClearPolitics. The article details specific voter demographics where Trump’s approval is particularly weak, such as independents (40%), women (32%), and Democrats (2%). Conversely, strong support remains among Republicans (76%) and white men without a college degree (50%), though these numbers are still below expected levels given past election results.
Written by AI on 2026-10-16, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of October 16, 2026, President Donald Trump's job approval rating stands at 38.7% approval and 59.4% disapproval according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, signaling a significant crisis for Republicans ahead of midterm elections. A new poll from Fox News reveals that while Trump maintains high approval among specific groups—such as Republicans (76%), Make America Great Again Republicans (95%), conservatives (64%), very conservatives (82%), white men without a college degree (50%), white evangelicals (61%), and the military (53%)—his overall approval rating is 36%, highlighting substantial disapproval across other demographics. This low approval rate could severely impact Republican performance in upcoming midterm elections, given historical trends linking presidential job approval ratings to party success.

Written for “Trump's Job Approval Crisis” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump's Job Approval Crisis
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 3% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles discuss Trump's low approval ratings but refer to different polls and timeframes.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 6 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles report on different polls with varying approval ratings and are published on different dates.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 14 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different polls conducted at different times, showing varying approval ratings for President Trump.”
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 22 claims Outlet record 59/100
“The articles describe similar but distinct polls showing low approval ratings for President Trump around the same time. They do not specify that they are reporting on the exact same poll or the same specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
30
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
3%
1 of 30 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
69/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-16 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Washington Examiner · 4257 article(s) · 8 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Byron York
15 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 It has long been a truism that a president’s job approval rating is the best indicator of how his party will perform in midterm elections.
2026-11-04 · assertive framing · The arrival of divided government
🔮 After many hints that she might not support el Sayed, Stevens rocked the party Sunday morning by endorsing Republican candidate Mike Rogers.
🔮 All signs point to Democrats winning control of the House, and it is entirely possible they will win the Senate, too.
🔮 For one, he seemed to be saying that he, JD Vance, would not have used the word “jihadist” to describe Abdul el Sayed.
2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Trump, Vance, and the ‘jihadist’ el Sayed
🔮 Trump couldn’t believe that on the Alaska ballot the real and the fake Dan Sullivan appeared indistinguishable.
2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Trump and the MAGA enthusiasm strategy
🔮 One place that theory could be tested is the race for Senate in Michigan.
🔮 It’s been said many times that a president’s job approval rating is one of the most important predictors of how his party will perform in midterm elections.
2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Inside Trump’s job approval crisis
🔮 “We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said back in May, in the war’s third month.
🔮 A Republican victory there would take away a current Democratic seat and make it much harder for Democrats to win control of the Senate.
2026-10-08 · assertive framing · In GOP midterm calculation, avoiding the unthinkable
🔮 If she had stopped there, she might conceivably have been able to move on to living her life, with less alcohol and ketamine.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · The political path of the Cornell rape allegation
Also by Byron York
The arrival of divided government
2026-11-04 · Washington Examiner
Trump, Vance, and the ‘jihadist’ el Sayed
2026-10-28 · Washington Examiner
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 15 articles by Byron York →

Topics

Fox Fox News GOP RealClearPolitics Republicans

Subjects

TRUMP PERSON · 17× Republicans NORP · 6× Fox ORG · 2× GOP ORG · 2× MAGA ORG · 2× RealClearPolitics ORG · 2× Republican NORP · 2× Democrats NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Fox News ORG · 1×

Narrative

President Donald Trump’s rating is very low at the moment — 38.7% approval versus 59.4% disapproval in the RealClearPolitics average of polls — which does not bode well for Republicans.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-16
🔮 It’s been said many times that a president’s job approval rating is one of the most important predictors of how his party will perform in midterm elections.
2026-10-16 · Washington Examiner
Inside Trump’s job approval crisis · assertive framing

Claims (30 extracted, 1 hedged)

It’s been said many times that a president’s job approval rating is one of the most important predictors of how his party will perform in midterm elections. asserted
party → say → elections
President Donald Trump’s rating is very low at the moment — 38.7% approval versus 59.4% disapproval in the RealClearPolitics average of polls — which does not bode well for Republicans. asserted
which → bode → Republicans
With what groups of voters does the president have a particular problem? asserted
president → have → problem
A new poll from Fox News gives some answers. asserted
poll → give → answers
First, the poll found Trump’s overall job approval rating to be below the RealClearPolitics average — 36%. asserted
rating → find → average
A rating doesn’t get that low without being pretty depressed among many component groups. asserted
rating → get → groups
Start with the places Trump is doing well. asserted
Trump → start → places
The Fox poll identified seven groups with whom the president has a job approval rating of 50% or higher. asserted
president → identify → %
Then Make America Great Again Republicans (95%). asserted
America → make → %
One thing to note is that even with the high approval ratings among those groups, most are lower than they should be. asserted
they → note → groups
One obvious example is Republicans — Trump should be doing better than 76% job approval with his own party. asserted
Trump → do → party
For example, Trump should obviously be doing better than his 50% approval with white men without a college degree, who formed one of his main bases of support in all his elections. asserted
who → do → elections
Put that together, and the Fox pollsters found that Trump is at 44% approval overall with white voters without a degree. asserted
Trump → put → degree
Then remember that Trump won 66% of those voters in 2024, according to exit polls. uncertain
Trump → remember → polls
Now look at the groups among whom Trump is doing badly. asserted
Trump → look → whom
It’s no surprise that his approval among Democrats is 2%, or that it is 5% among liberals. asserted
it → ’ → liberals
But he should be doing better than his 22% approval rating with independents and his 32% rating with women. asserted
he → do → women
In 2024, Trump won 46% of independents and 45% of women. asserted
Trump → win → women
In the overall job approval number, just 19% strongly approve of Trump, while 50% strongly disapprove. asserted
% → approve → Trump
That’s a pretty big gap between the people at the far ends of each side. asserted
That → ’ → side
And in the Republican voters category, just 43% strongly approve, while 33% somewhat approve. asserted
% → approve → category
That’s not great, either — just 43% of the president’s own party strongly approve of the job he is doing. asserted
he → ’ → job
It was terrible in lots of other ways, including voters’ views on the cost of living and their personal financial situations. asserted
It → include → living
It is not unfair to say that on every significant question, Trump’s numbers are worryingly low. asserted
numbers → say → question
Not surprisingly, because he is a human being, Trump likes to focus on the good news. asserted
Trump → like → news
That’s great! asserted
That → ’ → ?
But remember this: While it is hard to find any definitive numbers, it’s likely that somewhere between 50% and 70% of Republicans identify as MAGA. asserted
50 → remember → MAGA
That means Trump is doing gangbusters with half, or maybe just under three-quarters, of his party while struggling with the large majority of the country that is not MAGA Republican. asserted
that → mean → country
That’s not a good way to enter into a national election. asserted
That → ’ → election
When one asks about which groups Trump’s job approval rating has fallen into dangerously low territory, the answer is: a lot of them. asserted
answer → ask → them
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