The latest Economist/YouGov survey places Donald Trump at his lowest approval mark in YouGov tracking since returning to office. The result arrives as Democrats hold an edge in several generic congressional ballot surveys ahead of November's midterms.
Donald Trump’s approval rating reached another record low in the Economist/YouGov poll released Aug. 11, 2026: 33% of Americans approved of his job performance, or about 1 in 3 people surveyed. The rating fell 3 percentage points from the previous week, making it Trump’s lowest mark in YouGov tracking since he returned to office in 2025.
The result matters because presidential approval is a broad measure of public sentiment heading toward November’s midterm elections. Still, the poll’s 3.2-point margin of error means the week-to-week movement should be read carefully alongside other surveys and longer-term averages.
What the new poll found
The Economist/YouGov survey was conducted Aug. 7 through Aug. 10 among 1,589 U.S. adults. It reported a 33% approval rating for Trump, down from the prior week’s result.
That is the lowest approval level recorded by YouGov since Trump’s 2025 return to the White House, according to the survey results reported by USA TODAY. Approval polls generally ask respondents for an overall judgment of a president’s performance; they do not, by themselves, identify one policy or event as the cause of a change.
The same poll found 65% of respondents believed the country was headed in the wrong direction, up 2 points from an Economist/YouGov poll in late July. Sixty percent said they viewed Trump as not honest and trustworthy.
A one-week dip needs context
The reported 3-point decline is notable, particularly because it takes the poll to a new low in this tracking series. But it is also smaller than the survey’s stated plus-or-minus 3.2 percentage-point margin of error.
That does not make the result meaningless. It means a single poll cannot establish with certainty that public opinion changed by exactly 3 points in one week, rather than reflecting normal variation from who happened to be sampled.
The more durable signal is the broader level of support. Several polling averages cited on Aug. 11 also placed Trump in negative territory overall: RealClearPolitics showed 39.2% approval and 58.6% disapproval; the New York Times average showed 37% approval and 59% disapproval; and Silver Bulletin showed 38.1% approval and 58.5% disapproval.
Those measures differ because averages use different polls, time windows and weighting methods. Yet they point in the same general direction: Trump’s approval is underwater, even where the exact number is higher than 33%.
Concerns extend beyond approval
The Economist/YouGov findings also reflected doubts about Trump’s use of power. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they believed he was using the presidency for personal gain, while 55% said they believed he was using the Department of Justice against political enemies.
Those are perceptions reported by respondents, not factual findings about the president or the Justice Department. They matter politically because they indicate that the survey’s negative evaluations were not confined to a simple approve-or-disapprove question.
Age remained another vulnerability in the poll. Fifty-three percent said the 80-year-old president was too old to serve in the White House. And 57% opposed the proposed East Wing ballroom, according to the same survey.
Together, those answers suggest a wider confidence problem in this particular sample. They do not establish how every voting group will act in November, but they help explain why overall approval is being watched so closely.
The midterm warning signs
The survey found Democrats with an 8-point advantage over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot, a standard question asking which party a voter prefers to control Congress. That is not a prediction of individual House or Senate races, which will be shaped by candidates, district lines, turnout and local issues.
Other recent polls cited by USA TODAY showed a similar, though smaller, Democratic advantage. A Marquette Law School poll released Aug. 5 put Democrats ahead by 6 points, while a Reuters/Ipsos survey released Aug. 3 showed a 5-point Democratic lead.
For Democrats, the numbers offer evidence that national dissatisfaction could provide a favorable environment. For Republicans, they underline the challenge of separating congressional candidates from an unpopular national mood while keeping the party’s coalition engaged.
Trump has disputed the idea that his standing is a central problem for his party. In a recent interview with Punchbowl News, he said Republican voters were angry with GOP congressional leadership rather than with him and pointed to his 2024 electoral performance.
Why approval does not settle elections
Presidential approval has historically been one useful indicator of a governing party’s midterm position, but it is not a shortcut to the final result. Midterms occur state by state and district by district, and the balance of Congress can turn on a relatively small number of competitive contests.
Polls can also vary based on how they reach people, the questions they ask and the likely-voter assumptions they use. Economist/YouGov surveyed U.S. adults, which is not the same thing as a survey limited to people expected to vote in a particular election.
The generic ballot is similarly a national snapshot, not a map of where votes will be cast. A party can lead nationally and still face difficult contests in the states or districts that decide control of Congress.
What to watch from here
The key question is whether Trump’s low rating proves temporary or becomes a sustained feature of the political landscape. Repeated surveys, particularly those using different methods, will show whether the 33% result is an outlier or part of a longer decline.
It will also be important to watch whether concerns about the economy, the direction of the country, age and the use of presidential power move together or begin to diverge. A president’s overall approval can change quickly when public views of a major issue shift.
For now, the Economist/YouGov poll offers a clear but limited conclusion: Trump’s approval is at a new low in that survey’s tracking, and Democrats hold a national generic-ballot edge in several recent polls. The larger electoral consequences remain unsettled months before voters cast their midterm ballots.
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