Republicans get fresh warning sign as one in six former Trump voters say they wouldn’t vote for him again
Some of President Donald Trump’s 2024 voters are turning away from him, offering Republicans a fresh warning sign as his approval rating reached a new low in a University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released on Monday, August 31. With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, Trump’s declining popularity could become a major hindrance in the Republican Party’s effort to defend its control of Congress as frustration over the economy, inflation and the war in Iran result in growing discontent among voters who backed the president less than two years ago.
One in six Donald Trump voters now has buyer’s remorse
The UMass Amherst survey found that 84% of Trump’s 2024 voters would support him again if they could redo the presidential election, meaning roughly one in six would not. However, most of those disenchanted voters also said they would not switch directly to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Just 2% said they would vote for Harris, while 7% would support a third-party candidate and another 7% said they would not vote at all if the election were held again.
Notably, Harris retained greater support among her former voters, with 93% saying they would vote for her again. Among Americans who did not vote in 2024, only 20% said they would now support Trump, compared with 27% for Harris, while 40% still said they would not vote.
Donald Trump’s approval reaches a new low
The poll, conducted among 1,000 respondents from August 21 through August 26, found that 32% approved of Trump’s job performance while 64% disapproved, giving him a net approval rating of -32 points. The latest numbers mark a fall from UMass Amherst polling in March 2026, when his net rating stood at -29 points, and in July 2025, when it was -20 points.
Other recent polls have similarly placed Trump underwater. Morning Consult put his net approval at -14 points, Quantus Insights at -15 points, and YouGov and The Economist at -21 points. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from August 21 to 24 also gave Trump a -32-point net rating.
Warning for Republicans ahead of midterms
Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll, warned that Republicans could face serious consequences if the Trump administration fails to reverse public dissatisfaction. “The clock is ticking for President Trump and the Republican Party to offer solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems,” he said. “A failure to do so will likely result not only in a continued decline in the president’s approval rating but could also put Republican control of the House of Representatives and possibly the U.S. Senate increasingly at risk.”
Historically, the president’s party often loses congressional seats in midterm elections when the president is unpopular, just like Republicans suffered significant losses during Trump’s first midterm election in 2018.
Donald Trump dismisses unfavorable polling: ‘The spirit in our country has never been higher’
Trump has rejected recent polls that showed his popularity declining. On August 30, he accused the media of manipulating public opinion. “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Six days earlier, Trump accused Democrats of conducting “demoralization operations” using unflattering poll results, writing, “They’re putting them out at levels never seen before. They’re called, ‘Demoralization Operations,’ where they try to demoralize Republicans so that they don’t go out and vote — But the actual Polls are tremendous, and the Spirit in our Country has never been higher.”