With two months to go until Americans vote in the 2026 midterm elections, new polling shows President Donald Trump facing a political landscape that has deteriorated significantly since the start of his second term. The data comes from Civiqs' rolling online tracking poll of registered voters. A Newsweek analysis compares Trump's approval rating on August 31, 2026, with where it stood when he returned to office on January 20, 2025, with net approval calculated as approve minus disapprove.
Nationally, Trump stands at 35 percent approval and 59 percent disapproval, leaving him with a net approval rating of minus 24. State-level data paints a similar picture, with the president maintaining his strongest support in Republican territory while remaining underwater across every major battleground state. Use the map below to explore where Trump's approval rating stands in each state two months before the midterm elections.
Trump's strongest ratings remain concentrated in the Republican heartland. Wyoming remains his best-performing state, with a net approval rating of +22. North Dakota and West Virginia follow at +15, while Alabama stands at +8.
Arkansas and South Dakota are also positive at +8. Support remains strongest in states that overwhelmingly backed Trump in 2024, but the margins are considerably smaller than when he began his second term. Wyoming opened Trump's presidency at +47 net approval and now stands at +22.
North Dakota has fallen from +34 to +15. West Virginia has declined from +35 to +15. Kentucky illustrates how much the political map has shifted.
It began Trump's second term at +23 net approval and now sits at -7. Trump's weakest ratings remain concentrated in Democratic-leaning states. Hawaii posts the lowest net approval rating at -60, followed by Vermont at -52 and Maryland at -51.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
