Donald Trump’s approval rating falls to 38% amid Epstein row, lowest since POTUS’ return to power

The four-day poll was conducted online, and it surveyed 1,017 US adults nationwide. It had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.

Trump began his second term with 47% of Americans giving him a thumbs up, which means there is a nine-point decline since January. The new poll showed his approval rating among Republicans at 82%, which is down from 87% earlier in November.

Only 26% of Americans say Trump is doing well at managing the cost of living, down from 29% earlier this month. About 65% of respondents, including one in three Republicans, disapprove of his performance on the cost of living.

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Trump’s decreasing popularity, in fact, could negatively affect Republicans in next year’s congressional elections. However, the poll showed that voters continue to believe that Trump’s Republican Party has a better approach to economic policy.

“What we’re seeing is probably the biggest test of his presidency in terms of his grip on the Republican Party,” said Mike Ongstad, an independent strategist and former Republican who has not supported Trump’s presidential campaigns, according to Reuters.

Trump and the Epstein case

Only 20% of Americans, including just 44% of Republicans approve of how the President has handled the Epstein case, according to the poll. About 70% of respondents, including 87% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans, believe the government is hiding information about Epstein’s clients.

More than 20,000 pages of Epstein’s emails and other messages were released by a congressional committee on November 12. The emails and messages were part of over 20,000 documents Epstein’s estate turned over to Congress in response to a subpoena from lawmakers. The late sex offender insulted Trump several times in the newly-released materials, bringing the two men’s much-scrutinized relationship back into the public eye.

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Trump later said in a Truth Social post that the Democrats brought up the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” to “deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects.” He added, “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap. The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”