What a difference a year makes.
This time in 2025, as he prepared to deliver his State of the Union Address, Donald Trump had positive approval ratings and proudly declared his second term in the White House would one day be dubbed as an administration of “big dreams and bold action.”
The only thing big these days is the massive disapproval rating Trump faces as he tries to convince the American public that he hasn’t ruined everything — the economy, foreign policy, etc. — they care most about.
According to a report from Politico, even GOP insiders know Trump is now just a whisker away from being completely irrelevant and dragging them down at the ballot box during this year’s midterm elections.
“We were 1,000 percent on offense a year ago,” [one] former official recalled. “We felt like we were firing on all cylinders. And early on, we didn’t have many points for scrutiny. Now, a year in, there is a record to kind of hang the president on. That makes this much more challenging.”
Democrats can sense blood in the water, too.
“Neera Tanden, who served as staff secretary in President Joe Biden’s White House and now is president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, said that the situation is similar to 20 years ago, when the country was starting to turn against another second-term president.”
“People thought the Iraq war failed and they turned on George W. Bush,” Tanden said. “The two signature policies of Trump that he cares about more than anything are tariffs and immigration. One is costing working people a ton and they hate it. And immigration has gone completely off the rails. His problem is that what he believes in is a failure to the public.”
Perhaps the single biggest mistake Trump made was imposing trade tariffs, which the Supreme Court recently struck down as illegal.
“It feels like we’re a car racing towards a cliff and right now my party’s driving,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) lamented.
But the most damning criticism of Trump came from GOP pollster Whit Ayers, who had an ominous prediction for Trump and Republicans.
“He is currently at his lowest point in the second term,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster in Washington. “The single most important variable in midterm elections is the president’s job approval. When it’s above 50 percent, the party loses seats but not that many. When the president’s job approval is below, the average loss of seats is 32.”
The most recent polls show Trump’s approval rating at a pathetic 39%. His disapproval stands at 56%.
A Blue Wave is coming in November.
