--- title: Trump’s Polling Hits New Low, as He Loses Independent Support description: President Trump’s approval rating slid further Thursday, hitting a new low during his second term of 37%, according to Gallup. canonical: https://time.com/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-07-24T21:11:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:46.196Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump’s Polling Hits New Low, as He Loses Independent Support og:description: Trump’s standing among Republicans and Democrats hasn’t shifted, but it's tanking with independents. og:url: https://time.com/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf75b66733b9e8211/6998c89725f3ee010b644ddb/GettyImages-2226497011.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Hosts Phillipines President Marcos At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump’s Polling Hits New Low, as He Loses Independent Support twitter:description: Trump’s standing among Republicans and Democrats hasn’t shifted, but it's tanking with independents. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf75b66733b9e8211/6998c89725f3ee010b644ddb/GettyImages-2226497011.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump’s Poll Numbers Hit a New Low, as He Bleeds Support from Independents > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: House Panel Defies Trump in Vote to Subpoena Epstein Files [Watch (HLS stream): House Panel Defies Trump in Vote to Subpoena Epstein Files](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JhoSIgn3.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2025-07-24. The House Oversight Committee is preparing to subpoena the Justice Department for its files related to the sex trafficking investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after three Republicans broke with their party to join Democrats to vote on the matter. In an 8-to-2 vote late Wednesday, the panel’s Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee approved the motion to compel the release of records, a rare moment of bipartisan agreement regarding an investigation that has long been shrouded in mystery._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Jul 24, 2025 9:11 PM UTC  President Donald Trump calls on a reporter during an Oval Office meeting at the White House on July 22, 2025. President Donald Trump calls on a reporter during an Oval Office meeting at the White House on July 22, 2025. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Jul 24, 2025 9:11 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/7305146/trump-name-epstein-files-republicans-maga-supporters-react/)’s approval rating slid further Thursday, hitting a new low during his second term of 37% among U.S. adults, according to Gallup, as he continues losing support from independent voters. Independents rated him most poorly on his handling of the budget, Ukraine and foreign trade. Trump’s standing among partisans hasn’t shifted. Gallup found that his support from [Republicans](https://time.com/7300059/trump-bill-house-medicaid-republican/) has stayed steady at around 89% and his approval from Democrats remained in the single digits, falling slightly to 2% in July. Gallup’s pollsters spoke to voters in the two weeks after Trump signed into law his signature spending bill—the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act](https://time.com/7300177/trump-signs-big-beautiful-bill/). That law included tax cuts, and increased funds for immigration enforcement, the military and U.S. fossil fuel production. It also included funding cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Among independents, Trump’s lowest approvals came in for his handling of the federal budget, at 19%, and the [war in Ukraine](https://time.com/7302345/ukraine-lost-children-russia-war/), at 24%. Twenty seven percent of independents approved of his handling of foreign trade and the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. His handling of the economy found 29% approval among independents. Trump’s overall approval among independent voters declined to 29% down from 46% when he took office six months ago. Trump’s Gallup approval rating during his first term peaked at 49% in May 2020 and fell to its lowest level at 34% during his final weeks in office in January 2021\. The new approval rating comes as Trump grapples with concerns from Republican supporters about his administration's refusal to release more files from the [Jeffrey Epstein](https://time.com/7305200/epstein-files-trump-house-subpoena/) sex trafficking investigation. On Wednesday, three House Republicans on the House Oversight Committee [broke](https://time.com/7305200/epstein-files-trump-house-subpoena/) with GOP leaders and agreed with Democrats to subpoena Justice Department records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The committee also agreed to issue a subpoena for a deposition from Ghislaine Maxwell, who was [convicted](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse) for her role in a sex trafficking conspiracy with Epstein, and requested testimony from high-profile figures including President Bill Clinton, former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller. Trump has tried to change the subject for days, but with little effect. On Tuesday in the Oval Office, he revived a long-time grievance against former President Barack Obama, saying, without evidence, that Obama committed treason for his handling of investigations into Russia’s attempt to influence the 2016 election, which Trump won. On Sunday night, Trump launched a flurry of online posts on Truth Social calling for the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Commanders football teams to return to their earlier names, posted clips of people doing dangerous stunts, and shared a fake AI-generated video of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/"},"headline":"Trump’s Poll Numbers Hit a New Low, as He Bleeds Support from Independents","datePublished":"2025-07-24T21:11:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:46.196Z","description":"Trump’s drop in approval comes as much of his base revolts over his handling of the Epstein files","url":"https://time.com/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf75b66733b9e8211/6998c89725f3ee010b644ddb/GettyImages-2226497011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf75b66733b9e8211/6998c89725f3ee010b644ddb/GettyImages-2226497011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Hosts Phillipines President Marcos At The White House","caption":"President Trump Hosts Phillipines President Marcos At The White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/7305351/trump-polling-new-low/","name":"Trump’s Poll Numbers Hit a New Low, as He Bleeds Support from Independents"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House Panel Defies Trump in Vote to Subpoena Epstein Files","description":"The House Oversight Committee is preparing to subpoena the Justice Department for its files related to the sex trafficking investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after three Republicans broke with their party to join Democrats to vote on the matter. 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