President Donald Trump thinks he’s so strong, and he believes that macho-man persona makes him stronger.
Being an asshole has certainly helped him politically, from standing out in a crowded Republican primary field in 2015 to winning a second term. But what helped him get elected has once again proven to be a public opinion loser. Across foreign policy, immigration enforcement, scandal management, and the economy, Americans aren’t just skeptical of Trump’s vision—they’re actively hostile to it.
A demonstrator holds a sign while protesting outside of the White House on Nov. 15, 2025.
Start with foreign policy, where Trump has leaned hardest into spectacle. His saber-rattling over Venezuela was supposed to signal toughness and resolve. Instead, polling shows a country deeply uneasy with the move.
A Washington Post poll found that while 40% of Americans supported capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, only 24% supported continued U.S. involvement, which is exactly what Trump has promised. A Morning Consult poll conducted after the strike found that just 35% of Americans supported military action, even after factoring in a dramatic spike in Republican approval once Daddy Trump told them what to think.
Compare that to public opinion after George W. Bush launched the last unnecessary war. According to Gallup, 72% of Americans supported the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq. And here we thought Bush would go down as the worst president in history. Compared to Dubya, Trump can’t even wag the dog effectively.
That same disconnect shows up in Trump’s revived fixation on Greenland, where his bizarre obsession with controlling the country has run straight into an American populace that is both confused and alarmed by his belligerence toward a fellow NATO ally. A YouGov poll conducted on Wednesday found that just 8% of respondents supported using military force to seize Greenland, while 73% opposed it. Trump persists with this delusion despite a wall of public opposition, even in the face of an election year while inflation and cost-of-living issues dominate voter concerns.
Related | Trump’s Greenland delusions of grandeur are based on a deceiving map
Those foreign policy misfires bleed directly into a broader perception that Trump doesn’t care about the issues voters are actually worried about. As much as he promised to “lower prices on Day 1,” it’s clear he doesn’t give a rat’s ass. Why would he? He’s so divorced from the lives of most Americans that he recently seemed baffled by the word “groceries,” as if it were some archaic relic rather than a weekly anxiety for millions of households.
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Trump to UAE president: "We have a term 'groceries.' It's an old term but it means basically what you're buying, food, it's a pretty accurate term but it's an old fashioned sound but groceries are down."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 15, 2025 at 9:59 AM
The polls reflect that growing anger. A YouGov/Economist poll conducted in late December found that only 33% of Americans believed the country was headed in the right direction, compared with 56% who said it was on the wrong track. Trump’s handling of the economy was a major driver of that pessimism, with just 38% approving and 55% disapproving.
Two weeks later, Trump’s numbers slid even further. His approval on the economy dropped to 36%, with 57% disapproving. On inflation, the numbers were worse still: 32% approval, 59% disapproval. Fewer than one in three Americans approve of his approach to the issue that matters most to voters.
That’s not a warning sign: It’s a red-alert siren, especially for Republicans already staring down stiff headwinds ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Then there’s Trump’s other great obsession—immigration. Even before a deadly ICE encounter in Minneapolis this week reignited national outrage, public sentiment toward the administration’s immigration enforcement was already underwater.
Related | Trump’s 'affordability' problem is anything but a hoax
A mid-December Pew poll found that only 31% of Americans supported deporting all undocumented immigrants rather than focusing on those convicted of crimes, while 53% said the administration was doing “too much” on deportations.
Trump’s unexpected gains among Latino voters in 2024 are already evaporating as the human cost of his policies becomes impossible to ignore, contributing to Republicans losing the Miami mayoral race for the first time in nearly three decades.
When you look at all the factors, the picture is clear. Trump’s overall approval remains stuck in the low 40s as the weight of his consistently terrible and unpopular choices bears down on both him and his party.
This isn’t a president narrowly losing arguments at the margins. This is a president governing without public consent, piling up losses across the board, and mistaking vocal volume for legitimacy. That volume may help Trump dominate the conversation and distract from his involvement in accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s grotesque acts, but the verdict from voters is increasingly clear.
He isn’t just losing the battle for public opinion. It’s a rout.
