Some of President Donald Trump’s voters are turning away from him, as his approval rating reached a record low in the new University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released on Monday. Trump’s approval rating has major implications for the Republican Party in the midterms as it finds itself on the defensive in key races to control the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president’s popularity has waned since his return to office last year amid voter frustration over the economy, inflation and the unpopular war in Iran.
Historically, when the president’s approval rating is low, his party loses seats in the midterms. Such was the case in 2018, when Republicans suffered losses in Trump’s first midterm. Democrats believe his approval slipping to new lows could allow them to expand the battleground into more traditionally conservative states like Texas.
The new UMass poll found that 84 percent of Trump’s voters would vote for him again if the presidential election were held again, compared with about 94 percent of those who voted for Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris, who said they would vote for her again. But many of those disaffected Trump voters would not necessarily cross parties to support Harris. Only 2 percent said they would vote for the former Democratic candidate, while 7 percent said they would vote for a third party and 7 percent simply would not vote at all if the election were held again.
Among those who did not vote in 2024, only 20 percent said they would vote for Trump if the election were held again, compared to 27 percent who would vote for Harris and 14 percent who would vote for a third party. Forty percent would still not vote, the poll found. Meanwhile, Trump’s net approval rating fell to a new low of -32 points in the poll.
Thirty-two percent of respondents said they approved of his job performance, while 64 percent disapproved. That’s a decline from a -29 point net approval in March 2026 and a -20 net approval rating in July 2025 in UMass Amherst polling. Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll, wrote in the memo that the “clock is ticking for President Trump and the Republican Party to offer solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems.” “A failure to do so will likely result not only in a continued decline in the President’s approval rating but could also put Republican control of the House of Representatives and possibly the U.S.
Senate increasingly at risk,” he said. The poll surveyed 1,000 respondents from August 21 to 26, 2026 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The president’s approval rating has fallen in many polls as the midterms approach.
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