Americans say Democrats remain disconnected from their concerns, but Democrats foisting anti-President Donald Trump narratives and smears do have the president’s approval rating slipping, according to the latest The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Sixty-eight percent of U.S. adults polled said the Democratic Party is “out of touch” with ordinary Americans — higher than the 63% who said the same about Trump and 61% about the GOP.
But the obstruction of the Trump administration’s efforts in Congress, with the shutdown, media smears, and protests in the streets has managed to smear the president in the eyes of those same Americans.
Trump has a 41% approval rating and 59% disapproval — his highest disapproval in Post-ABC polling since January 2021.
The president continues to draw strong backing from 86% of Republicans, while 95% of Democrats disapprove. Among independents, 69% disapprove and 30% approve of his performance.
On major issues ranging from the economy and immigration to federal management and foreign conflicts, Trump received mostly negative marks. His lowest approval came on tariffs (33%) and running the federal government (36%), while his handling of Israel and Gaza earned the highest rating (46% approve, 52% disapprove). Nearly two-thirds (64%) said he has gone too far in expanding presidential powers.
Still, Democrats saw little benefit from Trump’s dip.
Midterms tend to favor the minority party, but the 2026 midterms are still looking like a toss-up.
In a hypothetical 2026 midterm matchup, 46% of registered voters said they would support a Democrat in their district versus 44% for a Republican — a statistical tie within the poll’s 2.2-percentage-point margin of error for registered voters.
The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos polled 2,725 U.S. adults Oct. 24–28, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points for the full sample and plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for 2,203 registered voters.
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