WASHINGTON, June 19, 2026 —
Just 33% of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy — a record low for his time in office — while 60% disapprove, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist survey released Thursday. The number lands with particular weight given where Trump’s political brand has always centered. The economy was supposed to be his strength. It just posted his worst numbers ever measured.
The 33% approval is three points lower than the worst marks former President Biden received for his handling of the economy in February 2022, during the height of inflation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s team has spent his second term arguing inflation and the economy were inherited problems being fixed. Thursday’s poll says voters are not currently buying that argument — or at least not crediting him for the fix.
The Numbers Behind the Headline
Just 36% of Americans say they approve of Trump’s overall job performance, while 59% disapprove — the widest gap Trump has faced during either of his terms in office. The interviews were conducted June 8 through June 11, 2026, among 1,340 national adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.
| Metric | Result | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Economic approval | 33% | Record low; 3 points below Biden’s worst (Feb 2022) |
| Economic disapproval | 60% | Widest negative margin on this question since 2019 |
| Overall job approval | 36% | Lowest of Trump’s second term |
| Overall disapproval | 59% | Widest approval/disapproval gap of either term |
| Republicans disapproving of economic handling | 22% | Notable erosion within his own coalition |
| Independents disapproving overall | 64% | Unchanged from April survey |
Source: NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll, June 8–11, 2026.
The erosion is not confined to traditional opposition voters. Twenty-two percent of Republicans say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, and the share of Republicans who say they strongly approve of his job performance dropped to 53% in June from 61% in April. That is movement inside his own coalition, not just confirmation of opposition from people who were never going to support him.
The Coalition Cracks: Rural Voters, Gen Z, and Independents
The poll’s most striking finding may be what it shows about rural America, a demographic central to Trump’s 2024 victory. Trump’s net approval rating among rural voters stood at -10 points in the new poll — a significant downturn for a voting bloc that helped power his return to office. Forty-three percent of rural Americans said they approved of Trump, compared with 53% who disapproved. In February 2025, Trump held a net positive approval rating of 22 points among rural Americans. He is now 10 points underwater — a 32-point swing in roughly sixteen months.
Approval among Gen Z stands at 25%, Gen X at 36%, and approval among households earning below $50,000 annually sits at 34% — all continuing to decline from the prior survey. Even among Trump’s strongest supporters, cracks are visible: while 77% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 approve of his economic handling, 54% of white voters without a college degree — another core 2024 constituency — are not satisfied.
Gas Prices and the Vacation Question
The poll connects the approval drop directly to pocketbook pressure. Average gas prices in the United States have dropped about 40 cents per gallon recently, according to AAA data cited in the survey period. Despite that decline, 34% of Americans told Marist that gas prices remain a “major strain” on their household budget.
The price pain is reshaping summer plans for millions of households. Forty-five percent of poll respondents said they were not planning to take a summer vacation in 2026, and of those skipping a vacation, two-thirds cited cost as having at least some impact on that decision. Seventy-eight percent of Americans said gas prices had some effect on their household budgets overall, according to the survey.
The timing creates an awkward contrast for the White House. Trump said earlier this month, while discussing the U.S.-Iran war that drove a spike in fuel costs, that prices were “not very high, relatively speaking.” The polling suggests a meaningful share of the country sees it differently.
The Political Stakes Heading Into the Midterms
This poll lands five months before the November 2026 midterm elections, and the numbers translate directly into electoral risk for Republican candidates running on the administration’s economic record. Trump responded to the findings on social media in his characteristic style, posting that “OIL IS FLOWING, IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, THE STOCK MARKETS ARE ROARING, JOBS ARE AT RECORDS, AND PRICES ARE DROPPING,” and declaring the country “STRONG, SAFE, AND RESPECTED LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
The gap between that framing and Thursday’s survey results is the story Republican strategists will be wrestling with through the summer. A president whose central 2024 campaign promise was economic relief is now posting his worst-ever marks on that exact issue — with rural voters, working-class whites, and even one in five Republicans expressing open dissatisfaction. Whether the recently announced Iran peace deal and any resulting drop in energy prices shows up in the next Marist survey will be one of the clearest tests yet of whether voters are willing to give the administration credit for stabilizing conditions it argues it inherited in crisis.
