A CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dipped to an all-time low of 41% as he hits the 100-day mark of his presidency. This is lower than any recent US president at 100 days since 34th president Dwight D. Eisenhower, including Trump himself during his first term. These record-low polling numbers coincide with a growing movement opposing a variety of Trump administration policies – from cutting social programs to mass deportations to the crackdown on free speech.
Workers across various sectors have come together to oppose the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to social security and other social programs. Thousands have taken the streets in mass protests marking broad opposition to Trump’s agenda in days of action called by grassroots organizers on April 5 and April 19.
The mood on the street and CNN’s results mirror other polls: a YouGov poll also has Trump’s approval rating at 41%, with a net approval rating of -13%, lower than Trump’s first term at 100 days and far below Barack Obama’s and Joe Biden’s administration at the same milestone. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll from April 27 showed that Trump’s approval rating fell from 45% in February to 39% in March. A Decision Desk HQ survey from April 30 showed Trump at a 44% approval rating.
According to CNN’s polling, confidence in Trump’s ability to handle economic issues in particular has declined, with 52% expressing confidence in the president in dealing with the economy, as compared with 65% in early December, a month before his inauguration. Some lawmakers in Trump’s own Republican Party have cited Trump’s chaotic tariff policies, which have rocked the US economy, as a source of his lowered approval rating.
Issues relating to the economy and pricing are overwhelmingly cited by people in the US as top concerns, being by far the most pressing issue for most people during the 2024 election cycle. A survey conducted by AP VoteCast just before the 2024 president election found that 96% of voters said “high prices for gas, groceries and other goods” factored into who they voted for in the November 2024 election.
According to survey data from YouGov, the economy remains the top issue by far for most people in the US. But a chart published in The Economist shows civil rights as the second top issue, skyrocketing in importance since the tail end of 2024. Trump’s mass deportation operation and his targeting of free speech on college campuses have raised concerns of human rights violations, especially his administration’s revocation of student visas, arrests and detentions of pro-Palestine students, and his policy of sending migrants to El Salvador’s prison labor camp CECOT based on flimsy so-called “evidence” of gang affiliation.
On May 1, which marks International Workers’ Day and is a day of action marked by many labor unions and left-wing groups in the US and across the world, thousands are expected to march in cities across the country.
In Atlanta, Georgia, worker-led and community organizations plan to rally in front of the Georgia Capitol. “Our tax dollars are funding a so-called ‘war’, meanwhile they’re threatening to cut programs we need like education and Medicaid, which could leave me out of a job, instead of expanding these programs so families can thrive. We’re getting the backlash from these poor decisions, feeling it in our pockets, seeing it at the grocery store. The workers in this country are being affected by all of it.” said Ieisha Francis, a nursing assistant from Durham, NC and member of the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW).
“Our government should have the interests of the people in mind, not billionaires, not corporations. Your money can’t buy my dignity, or my respect, and it can’t keep me out of this fight.”
