(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Is Trump finally losing his base? [1] ['Emily Singer', 'View Profile'] Date: 2026-05-01 A new poll from the Pew Research Center provides a deeply ominous sign for the GOP’s chances in this fall’s midterm elections. As Americans grow ever frustrated with high gas prices, President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 38%, according to The New York Times’ polling average, with his disapproval rating at an all-time high of 58%. Even then, Trump has still largely held onto the GOP base. Recent surveys from Emerson College and The Economist/YouGov have shown his approval among self-identified Republicans at 79% and 82%, respectively. However, a poll that Pew released on Friday finds that not only is Trump’s support cratering among the broader American public, but also it is now hitting new lows among his Republican base. The poll finds Trump’s approval rating falling to a second-term low of 34% among all Americans. But that slip was driven in large part by a decline in approval from self-identified Republicans, just 68% of whom approve of the job Trump is doing in office. That’s down 5 percentage points from Pew’s January survey, and 16 points from February 2025, right after he took office. The same is true of Trump’s 2024 coalition, which is souring on his leadership. “While most Trump voters still approve of the way he is handling his job as president, that share is shrinking: 78% of the president’s 2024 voters currently approve of him, down from 83% in January and 95% in the early days of his term,” Pew said in its write-up of the poll. A depressed Republican base would be a calamity for the GOP this fall. With Democrats hyper-enthused to vote, and with independents favoring Democrats, losing support from Republicans would make the bottom fall out for GOP candidates. Attribution: AP Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, shown in October 2024, is currently the top fundraiser in the Senate. Indeed, Republicans’ lower approval for Trump is likely already showing up elsewhere. Republican incumbents and candidates are being vastly outraised by their Democratic counterparts—a sign that GOP voters have closed their wallets. In states with especially critical elections, Democrats are vastly outvoting Republicans in primaries. In Georgia, Democrats are outvoting Republicans in the primary by 11 points. At the same point in the 2022 cycle, Republicans were outvoting Democrats by a nearly 16-point margin. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Democrats are outvoting Republicans by a 6-point spread, even though Ohio is now a red state with a competitive gubernatorial primary on the Republican side. Ultimately, if Republican candidates lose their own base, it could make even their corrupt gerrymandering moves in places like Texas and Florida fall flat. For instance, in the Sunshine State, there is a chance that Republicans’ gerrymander would backfire in a blue wave, leading Democrats to pick up more seats than they currently hold. And there are still many months to go for Trump’s standing to get worse, especially as gas prices continue to climb as he struggles to figure out how to end the war in Iran. Trump said in 2016 he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and he wouldn’t lose support among his base. More than a decade later, that assertion appears to be falling apart. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/1/800031524/news/trump-gop-voters-bad-approval-rating-pew/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/