President Trump is now 120 days into his second term, and his approval rating has turned upside down.
What began with a wave of political momentum has turned into a steady erosion of public support.
New polling data, consumer sentiment indices, and economic indicators all point in the same direction.
Americans are no longer confident that Trump can deliver what he promised on the economy, trade, or foreign policy.
His approval rating is falling, his policies are dividing his own base, and confidence in the country’s direction has collapsed.
Has Trump lost the room?
Trump’s approval rating now sits between 42-43% in most major polls, with disapproval averaging around 52-54%.
According to Gallup, his current average approval rating is 43%, slightly higher than during his first term but still lower than any other post-war president at this stage.
The decline has been sharp. The Economist/YouGov tracking shows Trump’s net approval dropped 14 points since January.
Reuters/Ipsos recorded his lowest second-term approval yet, at 42%.
The drop is consistent across demographics. Even among 2024 Trump voters, his favorability fell from 91% to 85% in just two months.
Polls from Pew and the New York Times/Siena also show growing dissatisfaction not just with Trump’s policies but with his leadership style. More than half of voters describe his presidency as chaotic.
Even 36% of Republicans now say the word “scary” fits Trump’s term.
The tariffs broke something
The first major turning point came on April 2, when Trump rolled out sweeping tariffs on nearly all US trading partners. Initially branded as “Liberation Day,” the tariffs sparked immediate market volatility and consumer backlash.
Just ten days later, Trump reversed most of them. But the damage was done.
University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 52.2 in April, then dropped further to 50.8 in May. T
hat’s the second-lowest reading ever recorded.
Year-ahead inflation expectations spiked to 7.3%, the highest since 1981. Consumers across all income groups reported weakening personal finances and job insecurity.
For the first time since 2009, two-thirds of Americans now expect unemployment to rise.
What’s different this time is how universal the reaction has been.
In 2022, consumer confidence was low, but wealthy households stayed optimistic and kept spending.
Now even high-income Americans are turning negative. Joanne Hsu, director of the Michigan survey, said this is the first time top earners are reacting as strongly as lower-income groups.
In May, 75% of survey respondents spontaneously cited tariffs as a primary concern, up from 60% in April.
The issue is no longer abstract. People see the tariffs as directly responsible for higher prices and economic instability.
And they don’t see a plan behind them, just volatility.
A presidency divided against itself
Trump’s problem isn’t just the economy. It’s the way his presidency keeps turning in on itself.
The man who ran on lowering prices ended up raising them.
The leader who promised peace in the Middle East is now under fire from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voters.
Trump himself said that he could end the war in Ukraine immediately but is now retreating from all sides.
On the campaign trail, Trump offered contradictory promises to different parts of his coalition.
He promised Arab American voters a return to diplomacy, while telling pro-Israel groups that he would take a hard line.
In office, he tried to do both and alienated both sides. After proposing to turn Gaza into a US-run resort, Arab American groups in Michigan dropped their support. “Arab Americans for Trump” rebranded as “Arab Americans for Peace.”
He made similar trade-offs on tariffs, energy, and tech. Major donors from oil, gas, and tech helped bankroll his campaign. But the tariffs undercut their industries.
Tesla was hit with surcharges. Oil prices keep dropping. Elon Musk, who stood beside him during his presidential campaign, publicly mocked Trump’s trade advisor and posted anti-tariff videos.
Ultimately, Trump won with the narrowest margin since Nixon.
He cannot afford to lose fragments of his coalition. But the compromises he’s making, which change within days, are forcing those breaks to happen.
A warning sign from consumers
The bigger concern is that the collapse in sentiment may finally start to affect consumer behavior.
For years, economists pointed out that bad consumer sentiment didn’t lead to slower spending, but that might be changing.
In May, 31% of Americans said they were delaying purchases because of expected price increases from tariffs.
Consumer giants like Walmart, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo have issued cautious outlooks. Airlines have pulled their annual guidance altogether.
Some economists still believe the link between sentiment and spending remains weak.
But even Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that the speed and size of this collapse is unlike anything seen before.
Business leaders aren’t waiting to find out. Amazon briefly explored labeling its higher prices with a “tariff surcharge” before backing down under White House pressure. That the idea was even floated shows how deep the concern runs.
A coalition built on contradictions
Trump built a coalition by telling every group what it wanted to hear. He sold protectionism to workers and promised deregulation to CEOs.
Now, 120 days in, Americans aren’t just disappointed; they’re confused.
The erratic messaging, the policy reversals, the mix of populist rhetoric and elite favoritism, it all adds up to a presidency that feels directionless. Even supporters are now asking what Trump actually stands for.
They are also losing hope. Half of the American population feels that the economy is getting worse now, while only 21% feel that it’s getting better.
His second term was supposed to be about bold moves and unfinished business. But many voters are now realizing that what he promised can’t be delivered all at once.
That realization is not just eroding confidence. It’s threatening to unravel his presidency from the inside out.
What happens next depends on whether the current slump is a bottom or just a step down.
Either way, the warning signs are not subtle.
Americans feel worse off than they did four months ago. And more than ever, they’re starting to wonder whether Trump’s promises were ever real to begin with.
Some are also worried he might try to stay longer than allowed. Over half of Americans now believe Trump will attempt to run for a third term, even though only 8% think the Constitution permits it.
These are all signs of just how unstable the political climate has become, and how little trust remains in Trump’s presidency.
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