--- title: Donald Trump's Hurricane Approval Rating Falls After Maria description: President Trump's approval rating for handling the government response to hurricanes fell 20 points after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico canonical: https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-17T00:27:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:57:14.423Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Approval Rating on Hurricanes Drops 20% After Maria Hit Puerto Rico og:description: Trump has faced heavy criticism for his response to the damage in Puerto Rico og:url: https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc8ab6537765319/6988e231cf40a83220c49d6e/donald-trump-puerto-rico-approval-rating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: US-STORM-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Approval Rating on Hurricanes Drops 20% After Maria Hit Puerto Rico twitter:description: Trump has faced heavy criticism for his response to the damage in Puerto Rico twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc8ab6537765319/6988e231cf40a83220c49d6e/donald-trump-puerto-rico-approval-rating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Approval Rating on Hurricanes Drops 20% After Maria Hit Puerto Rico > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8ef35582-e268-4628-942e-ffc3fc68d983&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fAc1RIaG.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2017-10-03. President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 17, 2017 12:27 AM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 17, 2017 12:27 AM UTC President Donald Trump’s approval rating regarding his handling of the federal government’s response to hurricanes [fell 20 points](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/politics/cnn-poll-trump-hurricanes/index.html) after Hurricane Maria ravaged [Puerto Rico](http://time.com/4980934/puerto-rico-statehood-jenniffer-gonzalez-colon/), according to a new poll. The [CNN poll](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2017/images/10/16/rel10a.-.trump.hurricane.response[4].pdf), conducted by SSRS, found that 64% of respondents said they approved of the way Trump handled the response to hurricanes in mid-September, after Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma hit the continental United States. But just 44% said the same a month later, after Hurricane Maria. Trump has [faced heavy criticism](http://time.com/4981655/jose-andres-fema-trump-puerto-rico/) for his response to the destruction in Puerto Rico, where residents are still struggling with [major power outages](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/puerto-rico-hurricane-recovery/?utm%5Fterm=.11c3e35db75d) and a [lack of drinking water](http://time.com/4979095/puerto-rico-drinking-water-waste-sites/). In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Trump called [San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz](http://time.com/4963614/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-san-juan-mayor/) “nasty” after she begged for help and slammed the U.S. government’s response. Last week, Trump said FEMA and first responders [won’t help the island “forever.”](http://time.com/4979339/donald-trump-puerto-rico-aid-tweet/) The CNN poll found that a greater percentage of men (53%) than women (36%) approved of Trump’s response after Hurricane Maria. The approval rating was also higher among white people (54%) than non-white people (25%). And young people under the age of 45 were more likely to disapprove than were respondents over the age of 45. The poll, which surveyed 1,010 respondents by phone between Oct. 12 and Oct. 15, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ NOISE ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/"},"headline":"President Trump's Approval Rating on Hurricanes Drops 20% After Maria Hit Puerto Rico","datePublished":"2017-10-17T00:27:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:57:14.423Z","description":"Trump has faced heavy criticism for his response to the damage in Puerto Rico","url":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/","keywords":["Donald Trump","weather","White House","Hurricanes","Puerto Rico","hurricane","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc8ab6537765319/6988e231cf40a83220c49d6e/donald-trump-puerto-rico-approval-rating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc8ab6537765319/6988e231cf40a83220c49d6e/donald-trump-puerto-rico-approval-rating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-STORM-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"US-STORM-POLITICS-TRUMP","creditText":"Msndel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/","name":"President Trump's Approval Rating on Hurricanes Drops 20% After Maria Hit Puerto Rico"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico","description":"President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fAc1RIaG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-10-03T20:03:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fAc1RIaG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4985125/donald-trump-hurricane-maria-approval-rating-puerto-rico/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```