Trump’s approval rating has never recovered since his Liberation Day tariffs, polls show – UK Times

President Donald Trump continues to lose support as the Iran war drags on, with new polling showing his job approval hit a second-term low this week.

Just 37 percent of adults approve of Trump’s performance as president, respondents said in a NBC News Decision Desk poll released on Monday, while 63 percent disapprove.

Two-thirds of respondents said they disapproved of the president’s handling of inflation and the Iran conflict.

Separately, the president’s approval rating on the economy has fallen by nearly ten percent so far this month, dropping to 30 percent from 38 percent in March, according to an AP-NORC poll. Meanwhile, more than half of registered voters in a Quinnipiac University survey said they blame President Trump “a lot” for gas prices rising recently.

Analysts pinned the troubling approval trend on a variety of factors, including the president’s signature Liberation Day tariffs, which he announced in early April of last year.

In a segment that aired on Tuesday, CNN data analyst Harry Enten said his analysis showed the president’s approval rating has been negative since late March, shortly before the tariffs went into effect. He accused the president of failing to see how unpopular the policy was.

“That means that Donald Trump, there hasn’t been a single poll that meets CNN’s standards for reporting, in which she has had anything but a negative net approval rating for 389 days!” the analyst said. “As I said, dude, just take the L. Tariffs are a terrible political thing for you, my man!”

The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

The president has continued to defend the tariffs, which the Supreme Court struck down in February.

Speaking with CNBC on Tuesday, the president called the ruling a “little setback” and said he would “remember” large companies that don’t seek refunds of the tariffs they originally paid.

“If they don’t do that, I’ll remember them,” Trump said.

The president’s approval slide predates even the tariffs. His popularity began declining in early March of 2025, and it has never recovered, though he got a brief uptick in support for his handling of the economy last fall, after the passage of the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill tax cut and spending legislation.

During this period, approval of his handling of the economy briefly topped the 40 percent level seen in April of 2025, when the tariffs were announced, according to AP-NORC polling.