By Sam Stevenson, Associate News Editor | Newsweek is a Trust Project member
President Donald Trump has recorded his lowest net approval rating among adults aged 30 to 44 in an Economist/YouGov polling series stretching back to January 2025.
His rating with that group fell to negative 43 points in the survey conducted from August 28 to 31, deepening a long-running generational divide before the 2026 midterm elections.
The result suggests the president faces particularly strong opposition among many millennials, although one demographic subgroup in one polling series cannot by itself predict how people will vote.
The result suggests the president faces particularly strong opposition among many millennials, although one demographic subgroup in one polling series cannot by itself predict how people will vote.
Approval Rating Trend
Donald Trump has fallen 42 net approval points with millennials (age: 30-44) since the start of his second term
A New Low in the Series
The latest Economist/YouGov poll surveyed 1,592 U.S. adult citizens from August 28 to 31, 2026. Its overall sample had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Respondents were asked whether they approved or disapproved of the way Trump was handling his job as president. Among those aged 30 to 44, the 27 percent approval figure was outweighed by 70 percent disapproval.
That negative 43-point balance supersedes the negative 39 recorded in June and marks an eight-point fall from July’s negative 35.
How Trump’s Standing Deteriorated
When Trump began his second term in January 2025, his net approval was positive by 6 points nationally and almost even among 30- to 44-year-olds at negative 1.
The younger group’s assessment weakened rapidly. It reached negative 12 in March 2025, negative 19 in July and negative 28 in November.
Losses continued throughout 2026. Net approval among the same respondents stood at negative 22 in January, negative 35 in March and negative 33 in May before dropping further during the summer.
National opinion also moved against the president, but less sharply.
His overall net rating shifted from positive 6 in January 2025 to negative 24 in the latest survey, a 30-point decline compared with the 42-point fall among 30- to 44-year-olds.
What the Poll Does Not Show
A subgroup result is less precise than the headline sample because it is based on fewer respondents.
Sampling variation means small month-to-month changes should not automatically be treated as genuine movement.
The broader trajectory is more compelling: every result for the age group since March 2025 has been below water, and all six readings supplied for 2026 have been negative by at least 22 points.
Respondents were drawn from YouGov’s opt-in panel and weighted using demographic, geographic, registration and past-vote variables to represent U.S. adult citizens.
That methodology aims to make the sample nationally representative, but the survey measures opinion at the time of interviewing rather than future turnout or voting behavior.
What the White House Says
The White House has rejected the significance of the approval figures, telling Newsweek that the decisive measure of public opinion was the 2024 presidential election.
Spokesman Davis Ingle described the vote on November 5, 2024 as “the ultimate poll” and said nearly 80 million Americans elected Trump to carry out what he called a “popular and commonsense agenda.”
Ingle said the president was working to create jobs, cool inflation and make housing more affordable. He also claimed that “no other president in history has accomplished more for the American people” and that Trump had already made “historic progress” in the United States and abroad.
“This is just the beginning as his agenda continues taking effect,” Ingle said.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sam Stevenson and James Debens
Source: newsweek.com