Donald Trump ran his 2024 campaign on a very simple promise: he was going to fix it all, and he alone had the power to do it. Fix immigration. Fix America’s standing in the world. And certainly, perhaps most importantly, fix the price of eggs. Fourteen months into his nightmarish second term, a new NBC poll has delivered America’s verdict on the promise, and it’s about as flattering as you’d expect.
The irony would be delectable to most people if it weren’t so expensive and critical to people’s livelihoods. The headline numbers are grim for the White House. Trump’s overall job approval sits at 44%, with 54% of voters disapproving of his performance.
A majority of Americans, 56%, say Trump is either bringing the wrong kind of change or no change at all, compared to 41% who think he’s on the right track. For a candidate who made “change” the entire selling point, that’s a staggering number of buyers who feel like they got the wrong product.
If there’s one area Trump was supposed to be untouchable, it was immigration. He built his entire brand on it, after all. And yet, 54% of voters now disapprove of his handling of immigration, which has resulted in the deaths of numerous Americans and prompted nationwide protests in condemnation of ICE and its Gestapo tactics.
By February, a separate NBC News Decision Desk Poll found Trump’s overall approval had slid to 39% which is the lowest of his second term. 62% of respondents said they didn’t trust that federal investigations into the shootings would be fair. More than half of Americans, it turns out, have a problem with the government killing its own people.
Voters give Trump his lowest marks on the economy, with 62% disapproving of his handling of inflation and the cost of living. His tariff program, touted as the economic cure-all that would revitalize American manufacturing, was struck down by the Supreme Court in February, at which point Trump promptly reimposed much of it anyway, because when your policy gets ruled unconstitutional, the best way to react is undermine the rule of law again.
Last but not least we have the raging war with Iran, which is the most baffling decision by Trump in a long, long time. The president of peace has launched a regional war that is entering its ninth day, and the global economy is in shambles as a result of it.
Put it all together and the political math won’t be kind to the GOP. Come November, voters may decide that the best change they can make is undoing the last one.
Published: Mar 8, 2026 08:26 pm