President Donald Trump's approval ratings on immigration and the economy have sunk to new second-term lows, according to data from a national polling series.
Newsweek contacted the White House via email for comment outside of regular business hours.
In this polling series, Trump's approval ratings on immigration and the economy have fallen to their lowest recorded levels of his second term, though the figures are little changed from February.
On immigration, long a central pillar of his political identity, disapproval now outweighs approval by a net 17 points, and on the economy, once a relative strength, the gap is even wider at minus 23.
A total of 35 percent of respondents said they approved of the way Trump was handling the economy, with 58 percent disapproving and 7 percent saying they were not sure.
Although the month‑to‑month movement is modest, this economic approval rating is the weakest yet recorded for Trump on the economy in these polls.
On immigration, 40 percent approved of Trump's handling of the issue, down from 43 percent in the summer of 2025. Disapproval has climbed to 57 percent.
Overall, 38 percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 57 percent disapprove.
That leaves him with a net approval rating of minus 19, little changed from February but firmly negative.
Half of respondents say they strongly disapprove, compared with just over a quarter who strongly approve.
The approval numbers land amid widespread concern about the direction of the country.
A majority of Americans, 61 percent, say the nation is headed in the wrong direction, while 38 percent believe it is moving in the right one. Fifty‑five percent describe the state of the union as not very strong or not strong at all.
Views of the upcoming midterm elections are mixed. Two‑thirds of Americans say they are confident their state or local government will run fair and accurate elections this November, down sharply from 2024.
Confidence that ballots will be counted accurately stands at 63 percent, while 37 percent say they have little or no confidence.
Concerns differ sharply by party. Republicans are most likely to cite voter fraud as the biggest threat to election security, while Democrats point to voter suppression. Independents are divided, with misleading information topping their list.
The poll also shows a competitive electoral landscape. If the midterms were held today, 53 percent of registered voters say they would support the Democratic candidate in their district, compared with 44 percent for the Republican candidate.
The NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll surveyed 1,591 adults nationwide from March 2 through March 4, 2026, with a plus or minus 2.8 percentage points margin of error.
Registered voter results are based on a sample of 1,392 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 points.
Harry Enten, CNN chief data analyst, wrote in a post on X: "Trump and GOP have a big freaking problem! Milestone: Trump's net approval has now been underwater for a year. He has the worst net approval with indies at this part in term two of any president this century. The effect: Dems have a very real chance of winning the Senate, not just House."
Trump has publicly dismissed unfavorable polling in recent weeks, telling the New York Post about low approval tied to the Iran war: "I think that the polling is very good, but I don't care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago."
Brett Lloyd, a polling and research specialist for the Independent Center, told Newsweek: "Polls capture a snapshot of a moment, but they miss the cumulative fatigue. They miss the 'quiet' independent who has checked out of political news entirely because they're too busy working two jobs. A poll tells you who they'd vote for if they had to; it doesn't tell you how many of them are planning to just stay home because they feel ignored by both sides."
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek in an emailed statement this week: "According to the RealClearPolitics average, President Trump is enjoying a higher approval rating than former Presidents Obama and Bush at this point in their second term, with much more hostile media coverage."