Fox News poll reports ‘atrocious’ approval rating on key election pledge for Trump and the Republicans

A new Fox News poll reveals President Donald Trump and Republicans are facing abysmal ratings on their handling of the economy — once one of their strongest issues.

In the survey, released on Wednesday, 52 percent of registered voters said that Democrats would do a better job on the economy, while 48 percent said the same of the GOP.

It marked the first time in 16 years that a Fox News poll showed Democrats holding a 4-point advantage on the issue, CNN’s Kaitlin Collins reported on Thursday.

At the same time, Trump’s own approval rating on the economy was far worse: 66 percent of respondents said they disapproved, while 34 percent said they approved, resulting in a net negative rating of 32 points.

“This is a siren sign for Republicans,” CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten said.

“These numbers are just downright atrocious; they’re the worst ever.”

He noted that no president in modern history has recorded a net negative 32 point approval rating on the economy. The previous lows were set by former President Joe Biden at negative 25 points in 2022 and former President George W. Bush at the same level in 2006.

Trump’s plummeting numbers are largely due to independents, Enten said, who gave Trump a net negative 55 point approval rating in the latest Fox News poll. By comparison, in January 2025, they gave the Republican president a net positive one point rating.

“If these numbers hold in the midterm elections, wave adios amigos, kiss it goodbye, to that Republican majority in the House, and maybe the Senate as well,” Enten said.

Those unenviable figures come as the war in Iran — and the resulting blockades in the Strait of Hormuz — have sent fuel prices soaring. On Thursday, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline stood at $4.03, up from $2.98 two days before the conflict began, according to AAA.

A Quinnipiac poll released earlier this month showed that over half of registered voters blame Trump “a lot” for the recent spike in gas prices.

Trump campaigned on lowering gas prices for voters by “unleashing American energy.”

On Thursday, the president said Americans should prepare to pay higher gas prices “for a little while” as a result of the war, though he didn’t specify a timeline. The White House previously said that higher costs would only be a short-term problem.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies