Most Americans think Donald Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself, according to a new poll, as the US president’s approval rating falls to a new low ahead of November’s midterm elections. A new Washington Post-ABC poll put Trump’s approval rating at 33% as he continues to crisscross the country as part of his campaign blitz for embattled Republicans. Most Americans (66%) believe Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself, according to the survey – including 34% of Republicans.
This is a 12-point jump from last September. While Trump returned to power in January 2025 and promised a “new golden age” for the US economy, 48% of respondents said they are financially worse off than when Trump returned to office in 2025. According to the Post, this represents the highest percentage saying this about any president in this series of polls since 1986.
Most of those surveyed – 67% – also said Trump is not committed to protecting freedom of the press. This comes after a protracted battle to ban CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House grounds. A federal judge has subsequently issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from enforcing the ban.
Today’s new polling suggests Americans remain deeply pessimistic about the economy ahead of the midterms, with 75% rating conditions as either “not so good” or “poor”. The findings also highlight the challenge facing Republicans in November: 37% of respondents said they trust Democrats more on the economy, compared with 28% who said they trust Republicans. As Republicans across the country brace for a potentially tough set of results next month, 61% of Americans said Trump is not committed to free and fair elections, according to the poll.
This number is up by five percentage points, compared to October 2025. It also comes after the Department of Justice sued California, after the state did not supply the administration with the citizenship status of about 20,000 people it claimed to be non-citizens. However, the justice department did not provide an explanation for how they created the list of names.
Trump is due to head to Kansas on Monday to stump on behalf of Roger Marshall, an embattled Republican incumbent senator, before back-to-back events in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Michigan over the coming days.
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