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By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
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Independent voters have turned sharply against President Donald Trump, according to data from two national polls from the same series, with a new survey showing his approval collapsing since the early days of his second term.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek in an emailed statement: "The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda."
Why It Matters
Independent voters often decide close races, and their patience with presidents can wear thin as governing records take shape.
Read More on Politics
With midterm elections approaching, sustained weakness here could reshape the electoral battlefield.
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What To Know
Independent voters were uneasy about Trump at the start of his second term.
A year later, that unease appears to have hardened into firm opposition.
In late January 2025, just days after Trump returned to office, an Economist/YouGov poll showed independents narrowly disapproving of his performance.
Some 41 percent said they approved of the way he was handling the presidency, while 45 percent disapproved, putting his net approval (those who approve minus those who disapprove) at -4.
By February 2026, that balance had collapsed.
In a new Economist/YouGov survey, only 25 percent of independents said they approved of Trump’s job performance.
Meanwhile, 66 percent said they disapproved, leaving him with a net approval rating of -41 among voters who do not identify with either major party.
That shift represents a 37‑point erosion in net approval since Trump took office in January 2025—an unusually steep decline for a group that often swings between parties and tends to be slower to lock in negative views.
The January 2025 poll was conducted between January 26 and 28 among 1,577 U.S. adult citizens.
Sponsored by The Economist and fielded by YouGov, it used web‑based interviews drawn from YouGov’s opt‑in panel and weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult citizen population.
Adjustments accounted for gender, age, race, education, voter registration, and recent presidential vote, among other factors.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percent, adjusted for weighting.
The February 2026 poll, also sponsored by The Economist and conducted by YouGov, surveyed 1,551 U.S. adult citizens between February 20 and 23 and carried a 3.3 percent margin of error adjusted for weighting.
It asked the same approval question, allowing for a direct comparison over time.
The topline results point to a sharp break with independents, rather than a slow drift.
Presidents often lose some ground outside their base as policy fights mount and political costs accumulate.
The scale of this decline, however, suggests Trump is no longer just polarizing independents—he is actively losing them.
What People Are Saying
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek in an emailed statement: “The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.
“The President has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world. It is not surprising that President Trump remains the most dominant figure in American politics.”
Speaking at a White House event on Monday, Trump said: “It just amazes me that there’s not more support out there. We actually have silent support. I think it’s silent. I think that’s how I won.”
Writing for The i Paper, Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “Trump’s brand on the economy should still be his greatest asset. According to the latest data, the economy is far and away the most important issue to Americans, and Trump retains decent‑enough numbers over likely Democratic candidates – and indeed, among the Republican hardcore, he’s likely to be seen favourably over other potential Republican nominees as well.
“However, this may be down to Trump‑era nostalgia around jobs and growth more than anything he is actually perceived to have done in his second term.
“Among independents and the more moderate wings of the GOP, his approval is starting to wane, with worries about the unpredictable nature of Trump’s leadership style.”
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