Donald Trump's approval hits all-time low as Fed rate cut shows economic weakness

A new poll released by YouGov/Economist showed President Trump's approval rating slipping as the Federal Reserve takes significant action regarding interest rates.

President Trump making a statement in front of the press, The Guardian.

According to the poll, the president has an overall net approval rating of -18%, with 39% of respondents in support of the president's job and a majority 57% of respondents in opposition. Roughly 4% stated no opinion. Of those who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, 12% disapprove of the president, and among Harris supporters, a mere 5% support the president.

However, the president suffered his greatest blow in economic performance. A new record low of 35% of Americans approve of the job the president is doing in the economy, with a 57% of respondents in disapproval. 8% stated no opinion. This is down from the net -17 points the president scored last week, and has been the lowest datapoint by the pollster from the president's second term. Furthermore, at this time in Trump's first administration, his net approval rating on the economy stood at a mere -9%.

On inflation/prices, a similar topic to the economy, the president had a 64% disapproval rating and a 30% approval rating for a net approval rating of -34%. On immigration, the president has a more favorable net approval rating -7%. On crime, he has a net -7% approval rating. On guns, -17%. And in civil rights, the president obtained a net -17% approval rating.

This poll comes as the Federal Reserve initiated its September meeting, putting inflation and jobs in focus. They emphasized a reduced interest rate - an approximately 25 basis point cut - in the grounds of rising unemployment (job losses in manufacturing and federal gov't) and non-volatile inflation hikes. Nevertheless, inflation continues to be a problem, contributing to the fact that the rate cut was only 25 basis points; many investors hoped for an up to 50 basis point cut in September, which they never received.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell in his speech yesterday to the press following the Fed's September meeting commented on these economic perils which continue to have an impact on Americans. Summarized by Reuters, "The softening job market was now top of the mind… He believes the recent pace of job creation is running below the break-even rate needed to hold the unemployment rate constant… businesses doing very little hiring overall… any increase in layoffs could quickly feed into higher unemployment... You see minority unemployment going up... You see younger people… more susceptible to economic cycles… in addition to just overall lower payroll job creation that shows you that at the margin, the labor market is weakening… We don’t need it to soften anymore."