The Public Has Reached a Breaking Point with Trump’s Presidency

Brian Daitzman is the Editor of The Intellectualist. Subscribe to his Substack.

Three independent national polls conducted within days of each other are delivering the same warning sign for Donald Trump’s second term. On immigration, on the economy, and on the aggressive enforcement tactics meant to define his presidency, according to national polling, the country has moved decisively against him. Republicans remain loyal. But independents have broken away, majority disapproval has remained consistently high, and the president’s signature agenda now lacks majority public consent. This is not volatility. It is a ceiling.

President Trump’s standing with the American public has settled into a familiar but increasingly rigid shape by early February 2026.

Across three independent national polls conducted within days of one another—the NPR/PBS/Marist survey, the Economist/YouGov poll, and Quinnipiac University’s national poll—his job approval remains stalled in the high-30s to around 40 percent, with a clear majority disapproving.

While the precise figures vary slightly depending on methodology and sample, the convergence itself is the signal: Trump remains underwater nationally, deeply unpopular among Democrats, losing independents by wide margins, and sustained politically almost entirely by a still-loyal Republican base, according to all three instruments.

By the Numbers Fact Box

Trump’s Second Term — What the Polls Actually Show

• Overall approval: 37–40%

• Overall disapproval: 54–56%

• Independents disapprove: ~60–65%

• Approve on the economy: ~36–39%

• Approve on immigration: ~38%

• Say ICE has gone too far: ~65%

• Say ICE makes the country less safe: ~60%

• Republicans who still approve: ~80–85%

Source: NPR/PBS/Marist, Economist/YouGov, Quinnipiac | Jan.–Feb. 2026

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The Marist poll finds that 39 percent approve of the job the president is doing while 56 percent disapprove. Quinnipiac reports nearly identical results among registered voters, with 37 percent approving and 56 percent disapproving.

Economist/YouGov places approval at 40 percent and disapproval at 54 percent. Considered together, these are not volatile readings or outliers driven by a single news cycle.

They form a coherent snapshot of a presidency that has not been able to broaden its appeal beyond its core coalition, as measured in these polls, even as it continues to press aggressively on the issues meant to define it...