Poll Shows Donald Trump’s Approval Among White Non-College-Educated Adults Falls

A new poll cited by Newsweek says Donald Trump’s net approval rating among white non-college-educated adults fell from +36 points in February 2025 to −8 points in May 2026, a total decline of 44 percentage points.

“If there’s one demographic group that is synonymous with President Donald Trump’s political rise — and his later rebirth — it’s the White voter without a college degree”

CNN

CNN reports that despite Trump taking 66% or 67% of non-college-educated White Americans in each of his three presidential runs, most recent polls show a majority of non-college-educated White Americans now disapprove of Trump, including a CNN poll at 51%.

CNN

CNN adds that in a February 2025 CNN poll, 63% of this group approved of Trump, but that figure dropped to 49%, moving Trump from a plus-26 net approval rating to a minus-2 among these Americans.

The same CNN reporting frames the political risk for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, saying Trump’s hammerlock on this group is waning as his approval falls to new lows.

Real Instituto Elcano says the Democratic Party’s strong results in the November 4, 2025 elections, including standout victories in New York City and in the states of New Jersey and Virginia, have done little to change internal tensions or establish a strategy aimed at defeating Donald Trump and the Republicans in next year’s congressional elections.

The same analysis says a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll shows Donald Trump’s popularity remains very low (39%), while Democrats are at their lowest point in more than three decades of WSJ polling with 63% of voters holding an unfavorable view of the party.

Newsweek

Real Instituto Elcano also says that if Democrats want to return to the White House, they will have to rebound and win in states where they have traditionally been dominant but have lost to Trump, including Ohio, Florida, Alaska, and Iowa.

It further links the party’s difficulties to a realignment process, stating that exit polls from last year’s presidential election showed Harris won the votes of Americans earning more than $100,000 while Trump won those earning less than $50,000, and that 56% of voters without a college degree voted for Trump.

The New York Times reports that President Trump’s push to oust Republican lawmakers who have crossed him claimed its most prominent name yet in Louisiana this weekend, reinforcing his dominance in the party as the G.O.P. braces for a potential backlash to his presidency in the midterm elections.

“11 mars 2026 | tiré de Jacobin”

Presse-toi à gauche

It says the outcome in Louisiana on Saturday followed losses by a group of Indiana state lawmakers whom the president targeted for political payback, and it arrived just ahead of another big test: a House primary in Kentucky on Tuesday.

The Times quotes Republican strategist and CNN analyst Scott Jennings saying, "You get on the wrong side of Donald Trump in one of these primaries, and it’s highly likely to be a bad day for you," and it adds that "Donald Trump’s word and judgment in a Republican primary is the thing that matters the most."

In parallel, CNN’s polling roundup emphasizes that the immediate political question is how these numbers translate into actual votes in the 2026 midterm elections, noting that Trump is not on the ballot while the group’s disapproval could still reshape Republican prospects.