Americans’ confidence in President Donald Trump has continued to slide during the first year of his second term, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Just 37% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling his job, down from 40% in the fall. By more than two-to-one, Americans say his administration’s actions have been worse than they expected rather than better.
Support for Trump’s agenda has also weakened. Only 27% of Americans now say they support all or most of his policies and plans, down from 35% when he returned to office. Pew found that this decline came entirely from Republicans, whose support dropped from 67% to 56%.
Confidence drops across key measures
The survey shows more Americans lack confidence in Trump than express confidence across six qualities tied to the presidency. These include leadership skills, mental and physical fitness, respect for democratic values, picking good advisers and acting ethically.
Just 34% of Americans say they are extremely or very confident Trump has the leadership skills needed to serve as president. Only 21% say they are confident he acts ethically in office, while 60% say they have little or no confidence on that measure.
Confidence has fallen since last year on all six traits, with some of the sharpest drops among Republicans. For example, the share of Republicans confident Trump acts ethically declined from a majority at the start of his term to 42%.
Party divisions remain stark
Democrats’ views of Trump remain overwhelmingly negative. Most say they support few or none of his policies, and large majorities express little confidence in his abilities.
At the same time, Democrats increasingly want their own leaders to push back. About 82% now say Democratic congressional leaders should stand up to Trump on issues they care about, even if that makes it harder to address major problems. That’s up sharply from last year.
Republicans show a different shift. A growing majority, 61%, now say GOP members of Congress do not have an obligation to support Trump’s policies if they disagree with him.
Views of Trump’s future turn more pessimistic
Nearly half of Americans, 47%, say Trump will be an unsuccessful president in the long run. That share has jumped 14 points since last year, driven mostly by Democrats. A majority of Republicans still believe he will ultimately be successful.
Pew based the findings on a national survey of 8,512 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 20–26.
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