WATCH:<\/strong> Booker rails against Senate committee vote for Trump lawyer as Democrats stage walk out<\/a><\/p>\nLindemer said he generally approves of Trump\u2019s job performance, even if he has concerns about the massive spending in the big bill the president signed into law on July 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sold it\u2019s really going to help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Low but steady presidential approval ratings<\/p>\n
The mixed reviews on Trump\u2019s policies come as he struggles to follow through on key campaign promises, including lowering costs for working-class Americans, preserving popular social welfare programs like Medicaid, ending foreign wars and lowering government spending.<\/p>\n
Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as Trump\u2019s sweeping tariffs push up the cost of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances. Separately, Trump\u2019s budget bill included Medicaid cuts that will lead to 11.8 million more Americans becoming uninsured and add $3.3 trillion to the national debt, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.<\/p>\n
At the same time, violent conflicts still rage in Israel and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Overall, the new poll finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump\u2019s job performance, a figure that\u2019s in line with his June approval but historically weak compared with recent presidents. Closer to half of U.S. adults approved of President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama at roughly the same point in their Democratic presidencies, according to polls from AP-NORC and Gallup, although Biden\u2019s approval rating declined in the second half of his first year and remained low for the rest of his time in office.<\/p>\n
Poll respondent Bailey Neill, a 42-year-old attorney from San Antonio, said he was \u201cterrified\u201d of Trump.<\/p>\n
Neill, a Democrat who describes himself as a \u201cstudent of history,\u201d cast Trump as an authoritarian who has followed the controversial playbook outlined in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for transformative changes across the federal government that Trump tried to distance himself from before the November election.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of my day-to-day life, I really haven\u2019t seen a change, except for the general fear and anxiety I feel at a core level,\u201d Neill said.<\/p>\n
Most disapprove of Trump\u2019s handling of immigration, economy and more<\/p>\n
Trump earned less than 50% approval on every issue included in the new AP-NORC poll, including the economy, government spending, trade, taxes, immigration, health care and his handling of the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Only 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from the 49% who supported his work on the issue back in March.<\/p>\n
Trump also appears to have lost some support for his spending decisions. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of Trump\u2019s handling of government spending, down from 46% in March.<\/p>\n
On the economy overall, roughly 4 in 10 adults approve of Trump\u2019s performance, which hasn\u2019t changed measurably in the last few months.<\/p>\n
Timothy Dwyer, of Dyersburg, Tennessee, a 26-year-old self-described independent who works in retail sales and leans Republican, said Trump\u2019s work on the economy, especially his tariffs, has \u201creally sucked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s turned us into a toilet and has absolutely made us the laughing stock of the world,\u201d Dwyer said of Trump\u2019s trade policies, while also lamenting the president\u2019s work on reducing grocery prices and health care.<\/p>\n
Most view Trump as effective, but fewer think he understands their needs
Despite such criticism, most U.S. adults think Trump is at least somewhat effective.<\/p>\n
About 6 in 10 say \u201ccapable of getting things done\u201d describes Trump at least \u201csomewhat\u201d well. And about half of U.S. adults say the same about the phrases \u201cgood negotiator\u201d or \u201ccapable of handling a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean they believe Trump can see things from their perspective.<\/p>\n
Most Americans, 56%, say \u201cunderstands the problems facing people like you\u201d is a phrase that describes Trump \u201cnot very well\u201d or \u201cnot well at all.\u201d His numbers on the question are relatively weak even among those in his party: Just about half of Republicans say he understands the problems facing people like them \u201cextremely\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s doing quite well. He could be doing a hell of a lot worse,\u201d said poll respondent Levi Fischer, of Marshalltown, Iowa, who voted for Trump three times.<\/p>\n
Still, Fischer acknowledged that he hasn\u2019t seen the economy improve as quickly as he hoped. Trump\u2019s policies, he said, \u201cdon\u2019t make much difference in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peoples reported from New York.<\/p>\n
The AP-NORC poll of 1,437 adults was conducted July 10-14, using a sample drawn from NORC\u2019s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.<\/p>\n
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