Reuters’ headline offers a masterful example of editorial spin: “Trump’s approval dips as Americans worry about economy, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds.”
That’s not all the poll results released yesterday afternoon shows … not by a long shot.
Let’s stick with Reuter’s lead for the moment, which mainly focuses on minor fluctuations in Trump’s approval rating:
President Donald Trump’s approval ticked slightly lower in recent weeks as Americans worried about the health of the U.S. economy and the Republican’s ability to contain rising prices, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The three-day poll, which closed on Sunday, showed 41% of respondents approved of Trump’s performance as president, down from 42% in a September 5-9 poll.
So the big news in this poll is … Trump’s approval rating dropped by a single point from their last tracking cycle. The margin of error in this survey of 1,109 adults is ±3%, by the way. This means that there is no meaningful difference between the two polls, nor between either of these and the preceding poll in late August, where Trump’s approval rating was 40%. It was 40% in their iteration prior to that in early August too, and the late July result as well. Going back over the entire year, the Reuters/Ipsos poll has consistently put Trump’s approval rating between 40% and 46%, which fits exactly into that ±3% margin of error.
In other words, Trump’s approval rating has been remarkably static in this polling series for the entirety of Trump’s second term. Reuters tends to run a little under the RCP aggregate average, where Trump has a 45.5% average job approval rating. That’s not all that spectacular, but as the chart at the above link shows, Trump’s approval ratings in this term are running well above his averages in his first term.
A static job approval rating for Trump shouldn’t panic Democrats, although clearly it worries Reuters enough to claim it to be something else entirely. Instead, the results on issues and trust in their party should set off flashing red lights and sirens:
Which party has a better plan?
Crime: R🔴+20
Immigration: R🔴+18
Foreign conflicts: R🔴+12
Economy: R🔴+10
Corruption: R🔴+6
Gun control: R🔴+4
Political extremism: R🔴+4Environment: D🔵+14
Women’s rights: D🔵+13
Healthcare: D🔵+9
Respect for democracy: D🔵+2 pic.twitter.com/zcwPxrkcrH— Aron Goldman (@ArgoJournal) September 23, 2025
Even the data for issues on which Democrats lead can’t give them much comfort. Democrats historically enjoy large majorities on trust for issues like the environment, healthcare, and women’s rights. The +2 on “respect for democracy” is especially stunning, given the constant and hysteric drumbeat from Democrats on that point. Marry that up with the four-point lead that Republicans get on handling “political extremism,” and this is evidence of a massive messaging failure — a message that didn’t work for Democrats last year either.
And while this poll took place before today’s shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, the crime and immigration numbers point to a disaster ahead anyway. Trump and the GOP have massive support for their policies and actions on crime and immigration. They even now lead on gun control, an issue that Democrats normally own.
The biggest problem for Democrats in this poll — in a series which usually favors their party — is that Republicans lead on all of the high-priority issues for voters. Last month’s Harvard-Harris CAPS poll ranked these issues, and the results are consistent with their earlier polling as well:
- Crime: 4th
- Immigration: 2nd
- Foreign policy: 17th
- Economy: 1st
- Corruption: 5th
- Gun control (Guns): 10th
There was no neat category for “political extremism,” although “civil disorder” came in near the bottom last month at 22nd. One might guess that this measure might move up in rank in the next iteration of the HHC poll.
Where do Democrat issue strengths rank? Er …
- Environment: 9th
- Women’s rights: 11th
- Healthcare: 3rd
- Democracy: Unranked
Republicans own four of the top five issues, and eight of the top ten. How did that happen? Democrats allowed themselves to get led by the nose into radical-Left policies and priorities. They doubled down by automatically opposing anything Trump does, which is how Trump’s cornering strategy succeeds. He doesn’t need to paint Democrats as radicals — they paint themselves into corners by demonstrating their radical nature in reaction to Trump.
After the violence of the last couple of weeks, Democrats should expect these deficits to get worse rather than better. Almost no one among Democrats, save for John Fetterman, sees the cliff ahead. They will go over its edge soon enough on this trajectory, and they will take their midterm prospects along with them. They are either too radical or too foolish to recognize the danger, and at this point, there’s not much difference between the two.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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