Trump approval rating hits new career low in latest AP-NORC poll - USA Today

President Donald Trump’s approval rating hit a new career low in Associated Press-NORC polling, with less than one-third of surveyed Americans approving of his job performance in the White House.

The poll, released Thursday, Oct. 1, found Trump’s approval rating at 31%, the lowest the president has seen in either of his two terms. Trump’s performance in Thursday’s poll also marks a two-percentage-point drop compared to the last AP-NORC poll in July.

Trump’s previous career low of 32% was recorded in two separate AP-NORC polls between late September and early December 2017, during his first term in the White House.

The president’s record low approval rating comes as only 26% of Americans said they approved of his handling of the economy. That rating is lower than former President Joe Biden’s approval of the economy (28%) in June 22 amid record-high inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Associated Press-NORC poll was conducted Sept. 24-28 among 2,140 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Thursday’s poll is the most recent survey released this week showing bad approval numbers for the president.

Over the weekend, Trump reached a new low in the Wall Street Journal's polling, marking the lowest approval for an incumbent president heading into the midterm elections among the outlet's decades of surveys.

Trump’s 37% approval rating is the lowest for a president leading into the midterms since the Wall Street Journal began polling in 1990, when former President George H.W. Bush was in office.

Then on Wednesday, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed the president with a 34% approval rating and a 61% disapproval rating. The president's overwhelming disapproval rating on Wednesday tied the record for Quinnipiac University tracking.

The last time Trump reached 61% disapproval was in the pollster's Jan. 18, 2021 survey, only days after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.