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By Jasmine Laws
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President Donald Trump's approval rating has turned negative for the first time since he returned to the White House for his second term, according to pollster FiveThirtyEight.
Newsweek has contacted the White House out of hours via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The FiveThirtyEight chart was updated on the same day Trump's new tariffs came into effect and the stock market fell. But, later the same day, the President gave his joint address to Congress, which was largely well received by Americans.
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A poll by CNN showed that 69 percent of Americans had a positive reaction to the address, while a CBS News and YouGov poll showed 76 percent approved of it. It was therefore a day of mixed signals for the president, but the shift in Trump's approval ratings could suggest his honeymoon period in office is nearing its end.
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What To Know
Per FiveThirtyEight, Trump's disapproval rating overtook his approval rating for the first time on Wednesday. After maintaining approval by 0.1 percent on Tuesday, the tables turned on Wednesday and Trump was left with a greater level of disapproval at 0.3 percent.
The shift in approval happened faster for Trump than it did for his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Biden's approval rating went negative in September 2021, around seven months after he was sworn into office, while for Trump it's been just over a month.
On September 1, 2021, Biden had the approval of Americans by 0.1 percent, but by September 3, 2021, this switched to disapproval by 1.1 percent, a greater difference that of Trump's change in approval.
However, Trump has maintained approval for longer during his second term than his first, according to FiveThirtyEight.
During his first term as president, by day 15 his approval had turned sour, going from an approval rating of 0.1 percent on day 13, to a disapproval rating of 2.9 percent two days later.
A NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll also found that Trump's approval rating had shifted, reporting that on Monday, 49 percent of the surveyed Americans disapproved of him, while 45 percent approved.
However, Real Clear Politics shows that Trump's approval ratings are still positive, at 1.2 percent on Wednesday.
What People Are Saying
Harry Enten, CNN chief data analyst, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Trump's overall net approval & on the economy are "historically awful... weak, weak, weak" going into a 1st address to Congress. He has the 2nd worst net approval rating (+1 pts) on record. Beating only himself (2017). His net approval on the economy (-4 pts) is the worst."
@Ceo_branding, who has more than 45,900 followers on the platform, created a poll asking X users why Trump's approval rating was better than it was in first term, despite yesterday's negative turn. He wrote: "He's doing 9 points better than he was in his first term. Why is that?" After almost 700 votes on the poll, X users most frequently thought the reason didn't matter, but 33.4 percent of voters believed it was because "the blinders were still on."
What's Next
For Joe Biden and for Trump in his first term, once both presidents' approval ratings switched to disapproval, their ratings remained negative throughout their tenure, so it will be interesting to see whether Trump's second term as president will alter this trend.
Also, something else to look out for is that ABC News, which operates FiveThirtyEight, is reportedly axing the aggregator, according to an announcement made Wednesday, so this could also be the last time Newsweek cites the pollster.
Update 03/06/25, 03:03 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to describe Harry Enten as a chief data analyst.
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