Thirty-Three Percent and Sinking: Even the Group Chat Can’t Defend This Anymore

By Tammy-Jo Pritchett · August 12, 2026

Opinion

I don’t need a fancy polling firm to tell me what I already see at the soccer field, in the carpool line, and in my family group chat that hasn’t been this unified since Grandma’s casserole recipe went viral. But here it is anyway, in black and white: Donald Trump is sitting at 33% approval. One in three. That’s not a polling blip. That’s a verdict.

The Economist/YouGov survey dropped August 11, and the numbers are the kind you screenshot and send to your sister with seventeen exclamation points. Thirty-three percent approve. Sixty percent say he’s not honest and trustworthy. Sixty-five percent say the country is going the wrong direction. And here’s the one that made me put down my coffee: 61% believe the President of the United States is using the office for his own personal gain. More than half think he’s weaponizing the Justice Department against his enemies.

Donald Trump, President of the United States, with 33% approval rating.

This isn’t me being dramatic. This is what the actual poll says.

And Trump’s response? He told Punchbowl News the base isn’t mad at him, they’re mad at Republicans in Congress. “They’re angry at Republicans, but they’re not angry at me.” Sir. With respect. My grocery bill is angry at you. My property taxes are angry at you. The moms who voted for you in 2024 and now can’t afford summer camp are angry at you. You don’t get to outsource this one to Mitch McConnell’s ghost.

Here’s what really got me, though. YouGov dug into the numbers and found that Trump’s support among non-MAGA Republicans has collapsed from a net +84 approval at the start of his term down to +12. That’s not erosion. That’s a cliff. Among Independents, he’s at minus-53. Fifty-three! These are the people who handed him the election. These are the suburban parents who took a chance because they wanted something different, and what they got was an 80-year-old president who 53% of the country now says is too old for the job.

White House ballroom renovation opposed by 57% of Americans.

White voters without college degrees, his bread and butter, are now net negative for the first time. The three-week average is minus-6. At the start of the term it was plus-27. I’m not a statistician. I’m a mom who can read a trend line. That trend line is pointing straight down.

And it’s not just YouGov. RealClearPolitics has him at 39% approve, 58.6% disapprove. The New York Times average is 37-59. Silver Bulletin: 38-58. Pick your aggregator. They’re all telling the same story, and it’s the one we’ve been living.

Meanwhile, Democrats are up 8 points on the generic congressional ballot. Marquette had them up 6. Reuters had them up 5. You know what that means in November? It means the moms are done waiting.

Coffee cup put down by author after seeing poll numbers.

I did my own research, like I always do. I looked at the tariffs tanking his trade approval to minus-29. I looked at the East Wing ballroom renovation that 57% of Americans oppose. I looked at a president who spent his first months back in office remodeling the White House while the rest of us were remodeling our budgets to cover eggs and gas.

Thirty-three percent. He can spin it. He can blame Congress. He can point to his 2024 state records and ask whether his voters will show up without him on the ballot. But I’ll tell you what I told my group chat: the voters showed up. They showed up and they’re looking around and they’re not liking what they see. And no amount of “I have records in many of the states” changes what’s happening at the kitchen table right now.

The poll was 1,589 adults, margin of error 3.2 points. You know what’s outside the margin of error? A 28-point net approval collapse among his own soft supporters. That’s not noise. That’s a stampede for the exits.

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