Over the opening months of his new term, President Donald Trump enjoyed rave reviews on key issues from the 2024 campaign like immigration and inflation. Now six months in, approval appears to be wavering says the latest CBS News poll.
By The Numbers:
In March, 54% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of immigration, compared to 46% who disapproved. Two months ago, his approve/disapprove was 50%/50%. Today, Trump is underwater on immigration, with only 44% saying they approve of the job he’s doing on immigration to 56% disapprove.
In March, 46% of Americans said they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation, to 54% who disapproved. In June, those numbers were 39%-61%. Today, they’re 36%-64%.
It could be that the decline is because Americans think Trump is spending time on the wrong issues. Seventy percent believe Trump is not spending “enough time” on inflation, compared to 24% who said he’s spending the “right amount.” of time. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe Trump is spending “too much” time on tariffs, compared to 33% who say the “right amount.”
Bottom Line: President Trump has had a largely successful first six months in office– from economic numbers to foreign policy wins to major legislation. That said, distractions like the Epstein files and the unrelated issues Trump raises to distract from the distractions (like the recent focus on Russia-gate), are taking oxygen from the time he needs to use to sell his wins. Candidates and incumbents down the ballot should be wary not to follow suite. The sooner the GOP goes on unified offense on the wins, the sooner it will get on stronger footing for the midterm elections.
