Trump's Economic Ratings Hit Lows in Fox Poll Amid Gas Price Surge

A devastating new Fox News poll has exposed the rapid collapse of Donald Trump’s economic credibility barely a year into his second term, with voters delivering historically poor grades on the very issues he once claimed as his strengths. The survey, released this week, shows Trump’s approval rating on the economy at just 34 percent, with a staggering 66 percent disapproving. On inflation the numbers are even more dire: 28 percent approval against 72 percent disapproval. For the first time in 16 years, a Fox News poll finds Democrats preferred over Republicans on the economy, 52 percent to 48 percent.

These figures represent more than a bad news cycle. They mark a political earthquake. CNN data analyst Harry Enten described them as “downright atrocious” and the worst ever recorded for a president on the economy. No modern president has posted a net negative 32-point approval on economic handling. Joe Biden’s low was minus 25. George W. Bush hit the same mark at his nadir. Trump has now surpassed both, driven largely by a catastrophic swing among independents. They gave him a net positive one rating in January 2025. Now they register a net negative 55 points.

The numbers arrive as multiple surveys paint a consistent picture of erosion. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this week found that 77 percent of registered voters blame Trump for the surge in gasoline prices that has pushed the national average to about four dollars a gallon. That increase stems directly from the war with Iran that Trump and Israel launched in February. The conflict has disrupted roughly a fifth of global oil trade. Even 55 percent of Republican voters assign Trump at least some responsibility, while 58 percent of all voters say they are less likely to support midterm candidates who back his Iran policy. The political damage crosses every demographic: 82 percent of independents and 95 percent of Democrats fault the president.

Latinos, a cohort that provided crucial support in Trump’s 2024 victory, are abandoning him at an accelerated rate. A March poll by Third Way and UnidosUS found Trump’s favorability among Latino voters at 34 percent favorable to 66 percent unfavorable, far worse than his national 44-55 split. On the economy, only 33 percent of Latinos view his performance positively. Immigration numbers are similarly bleak: 32 percent positive, 67 percent negative. Congressional ballot tests show Democrats leading Republicans by 30 points among Latinos, 61-31, with an especially striking 22-point Democratic advantage among Latino men. That represents a near-total reversal from 2024 patterns.

G. Elliott Morris, whose Strength in Numbers Substack has long argued that Trump’s underlying numbers were weaker than conventional wisdom allowed, says the data should not surprise close observers. Speaking on The Daily Blast podcast, Morris noted that Biden’s worst net disapproval on the economy was minus 32 in a Fox survey from May 2023. Trump has now matched or exceeded that territory in his first full year back in office. The polling expert points to independents as the decisive group. Their rapid turn against Trump on pocketbook issues has flipped the traditional Republican advantage on the economy that GOP candidates have relied upon for more than a decade.

Inside Trumpworld the mood is grim. Multiple reports this week describe a president who is “in a bad mood” and lashing out by purging senior officials. Top GOP senators told Politico that further staff shake-ups are expected as Trump seeks scapegoats for sinking numbers. Advisers are frantically searching for a coherent midterm strategy, aware that the party’s narrow majorities in the House and Senate are now at serious risk. One senator described the atmosphere as one of panic, with Trump’s lieutenants bracing for more upheaval.

The contrast with Trump’s campaign promises could hardly be starker. He sold voters on the idea that his return would restore American prosperity, tame inflation, and deliver cheaper energy. Instead, his decision to launch a war on Iran has produced precisely the opposite outcome: higher gas prices, broader economic discontent, and a political backlash that is hitting his own coalition hardest. Latinos who backed him in 2024 appear particularly disillusioned by the combination of economic pain and immigration policies that have failed to deliver the results he touted.

Democrats, who have spent years struggling to win trust on economic matters, suddenly find themselves with a rare opening. If these numbers hold through the summer and fall, the path to flipping the House becomes considerably clearer, and even Senate control, once considered a long shot, enters the realm of possibility. Republican strategists privately admit the party is facing a midterm environment that increasingly resembles the most difficult terrain for an incumbent president in recent memory.

The Fox poll, in particular, carries extra sting because Trump himself pays close attention to the network’s data. That he is receiving such dismal grades from one of his most reliable media allies suggests the problems are not simply a matter of partisan spin. They reflect a fundamental breakdown between the promises Trump made and the reality his policies have produced. With gas prices climbing, independents fleeing, and key parts of his 2024 coalition showing buyers’ remorse, the president enters the second half of his term facing a political reckoning that his own polling cannot obscure.