...
By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Donald Trump has slipped into negative territory with white voters in a new national poll.
Newsweek has contacted the White House via email for comment.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly previously told Newsweek that Trump was “delivering on his promises, and the American people remain firmly aligned with the President’s agenda to Make America Great Again, regardless of the Mainstream Media’s so-called polling."
Read More on Politics
Read more: 3 Polls That Paint a Worrying Sign for Donald Trump
Why It Matters
Trump’s electoral strength has always depended on resilience among white voters, especially non‑college whites and right‑leaning independents.
A slight but consistent dip into negative territory across two major polling series suggests that his coalition, while stable at its core, may be losing some of its grip on the middle of the electorate.
...
What To Know
The January 21–28 Marquette Law School Supreme Court Poll finds that 49 percent of white non‑Hispanic adults approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, while 50 percent disapprove.
The survey interviewed 1,003 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Fieldwork was conducted by SSRS using a probability‑based panel recruited through address‑based sampling and bilingual telephone interviewing, and weighted according to demographic and political benchmarks under AAPOR Transparency Initiative standards.
The findings echo a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, which also found Trump underwater with white voters, with 47 percent of white voters either somewhat or strongly approving of the president’s job performance, and 50 percent disapproving.
It was a clear reversal from the Times/Siena survey last September, when Trump held a 52–46 lead among white voters.
The latest survey interviewed 1,625 registered voters between January 12 and 17, 2026, and the earlier poll of 1,313 registered voters was conducted September 22 to 27, 2025. The consistency between the two series suggests a broader pattern taking shape.
These findings carry added weight because, as Columbia University political scientist Robert Y. Shapiro told Newsweek, Trump’s “base of white, MAGA voters has kept his approval rating steady, and it is a warning sign that this falling off of support may continue.”
But Trump himself denounced the findings as “fake,” writing in a Truth Social post: "Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense. As an example, all of the Anti Trump Media that covered me during the 2020 Election showed Polls that were knowingly wrong."
White voters have long provided Trump with reliable margins, serving as the backbone of his coalition in 2016 and remaining essential through the 2020 and 2024 cycles.
Their movement into net‑negative territory in Marquette’s poll does not mark the first recorded instance, but its reemergence in a probability‑based national sample carries weight—particularly because it mirrors the findings of the Times/Siena polling, which also detected the shift earlier this year.
What Is Trump’s Approval Rating?
Trump’s approval rating remains firmly underwater across multiple national trackers, underscoring the political headwinds he faces heading into 2026.
Marquette Law School’s latest poll puts him at 42 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval, a net –16 rating.
The CNN Poll of Polls shows a similar picture, averaging 39 percent approval and 59 percent disapproval, a net –20.
Meanwhile, Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll finds him at 41 percent approve and 57 percent disapprove, a net –16, reinforcing a consistent pattern of negative sentiment across methodologies and voter samples.
What People Are Saying
Responding to the Marquette poll, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office wrote in a post on X: “Amazing to watch @StephenM (White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller) sabotage Trump and the MAGA movement in real time!”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times. Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they “computed” these fake results — Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”
White House spokesman Kush Desai told Newsweek: “Nearly 80 million Americans gave President Trump a resounding Election Day mandate to end Joe Biden’s economic disaster and immigration crisis. The Trump administration remains laser-focused on continuing to cool inflation, accelerate economic growth, secure our border, and mass deport criminal illegal aliens.”
What Happens Next
In states and districts that will decide control of Congress in 2026, even a one‑ or two‑point swing among the largest demographic group can alter the strategic landscape.
The Marquette poll, taken together with the Times/Siena findings, offers an early indication that Trump’s support among white voters is vulnerable in ways that were less evident in earlier cycles.
With two respected national polls now showing Trump underwater with white voters, Republicans may face a more complicated midterm map than they expected.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines