Trump approval rating falls to 37%, Pew poll finds

President Trump’s approval rating with American voters has dropped to 37%, his lowest level since returning to office last year, with waning support among Republicans, a new Pew Research Center poll has found.

The president’s approval rating declined by 3 percentage points since last fall, with 50% of voters saying he’s been worse than expected, according to the poll released late Thursday evening.

The survey also found that 52% of voters support “few or none” of Mr. Trump’s policies.

Mr. Trump’s approval remains high among Republicans at 73%, but dropped from 78% in September, the poll found. Last year, 67% of Republicans said they supported all or some of Mr. Trump’s plans and policies, but that number has dropped to 56%.

Overall, there was a significant decrease in support for Mr. Trump’s plans and policies. The September poll found that 35% of respondents said they supported all or most of his plans, 17% supported some and 47% said they supported only a few or none.

The new poll found that 27% said they support all or most of Mr. Trump’s policies, 20% said they support some and 52% support few or none.

Among Democrats, Mr. Trump’s approval rating stood at 5%, with 94% of Democrats saying they disapprove of his job performance.

The majority of those surveyed also expressed a lack of confidence in Mr. Trump’s leadership skills, mental fitness, physical fitness, ethics and ability to pick good advisors. For example, only 28% said the president has acted ethically in office, while 60% said he has not acted ethically at all and 18% said he’s acted somewhat ethically.

Even fewer say Mr. Trump respects the country’s democratic values, with 25% saying they are confident he does and 25% said he picks good advisors, compared with 57% who said he does not.

Pew said the poll was already in progress when a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a nurse who was protesting immigration enforcement in Minneapolis last weekend.

Mr. Trump’s approval rating has been declining among Republicans and independents in several recent polls as his administration faces pushback over stubborn inflation and the president’s immigration policies. The president is facing pressure to reverse those numbers as he heads into a bitter midterm battle that could determine control of Congress and the fate of his agenda.

In a Truth Social post earlier this week, the president blasted the polls, accusing them of being doctored to make him look bad.

“Something has to be done about fake polls. They are truly out of control,” Mr. Trump wrote.

“Fake polls on the economy, on the border, on just about everything are ridiculous and dangerous. The real polls have been great but they refuse to print them,” Mr. Trump said. “This is no different than a writer who is corrupt, of which there are many.”