A Washington Post-ABC survey puts the US president’s approval rating at 33%, with most respondents also expressing pessimism about the economy and his commitment to press freedom.
TBS Report
20 October, 2026, 07:35 pm
Last modified: 20 October, 2026, 07:39 pm
About two-thirds of Americans believe President Donald Trump is using his office to enrich himself, while his approval rating has fallen to 33%, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll.
The survey found that 66% of respondents believed Trump was using the presidency for personal financial gain, up 12 percentage points from September last year. The figure included 34% of Republicans, reports The Guardian.
Despite Trump's promise of a "new golden age" for the US economy after returning to office in January 2025, 48% of respondents said they were financially worse off than when he took office.
According to The Guardian, this was the highest proportion expressing such a view about any president in the Washington Post's polling series dating back to 1986.
Economic concerns remained widespread, with 75% of respondents rating the country's economic conditions as either "not so good" or "poor".
The poll also found that 37% of respondents trusted Democrats more than Republicans to handle the economy, while 28% expressed greater confidence in Republicans.
Concerns about press freedom and elections also featured prominently in the survey. Some 67% of respondents said Trump was not committed to protecting freedom of the press, while 61% said he was not committed to ensuring free and fair elections. The latter figure was five percentage points higher than in October 2025.
The findings come amid a dispute over access to the White House involving CNN, MS Now and Politico. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from enforcing a ban on the outlets' access to the White House grounds, The Guardian reported.
The administration has also faced legal disputes over voter information. The US Department of Justice sued California after the state declined to provide citizenship-status information for about 20,000 people whom the administration claimed were non-citizens. The department did not explain how the list had been compiled, according to the report.
The poll results pose a challenge for Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections, as Trump travels across the country to campaign for party candidates, including vulnerable Republican incumbents.
He was scheduled to visit Kansas to campaign for Senator Roger Marshall, followed by events in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Michigan.