Trump asked about Maxwell’s pardon as the Epstein Files face scrutiny
President Donald Trump says he has not considered a pardon for Githraine Maxwell in new scrutiny via the Epstein Files.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s approval rate has dropped to 37%, according to a new Gallup poll, his second term’s lowest point as an independent voter is getting worse and worse for his president.
The poll, filmed between July 7th and July 21st, took place shortly after his signature on July 4th of his “big and beautiful bill” law, and he faced a fierce backlash against his refusal to release the files of Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraceful offender and sex offender.
This shows a 10-point decline from the 47% approval rating that Americans gave Trump’s job performance at the beginning of their January term. A phone survey of 1,002 Americans released on July 24th saw an error of +/- 4% points.
Only 29% of independent voters said they approved Trump’s job performance, down 17 percentage points from the 46% the president enjoyed among independents at the start of his second term. The 29% approval rating of independent voters is the lowest Gallup tracked by the group in one of his two terms.
Trump maintains strong support from Republican voters. It fell only one point to 89% from 90% in January, but support from Democrat voters fell from 6% to 2%.
Trump’s approval rating slides on issues including the economy
A recent poll average from Real Clear Politics found Trump had a high approval rate of 52%, compared to 46% of Americans who approved his job performance.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” law marked a major legislative victory for the president, but a CNN poll conducted by SSRS this month found 61% of Americans opposed megabil.
Trump also lost support for dealing with most issues. Only 37% of Americans approved the economy in July, down from 42% in Gallup’s February poll. Trump’s favorable rating for immigrants fell from 46% to 38%, with foreign trade handling reduced from 42% to 36%, foreign affairs handling from 44% to 41%, and Middle East handling from 40% to 36%.
Trump’s minimum approval mark is the handling of wars in Ukraine, 33%, and the federal budget of 29%.
Trump’s average approval rate in the Gallup vote from April 20th to July 19th was 40%, significantly lower on the first terms of the average of 59% for all World Presidents elected between 1952 and 2020. But that was a notch above the first quarter average of 39% that Trump had in 2017.
The latest Gallup poll is a potential warning sign for Trump and Republicans, more than a year away from the mid-2026 period, hoping Democrats will regain control of the House and Senate.
But Trump has proven in the past that he has political power to overcome poor votes. Trump’s lowest approval rate, 34%, came at the end of his first term in January 2021, after refusing to admit the 2020 election and the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th.
Reach Joey Garrison with X @joeygarrison.
