Poll: 39% of Americans Approve of Trump’s Job Performance

04/09/2026

Media Contacts: David Joyner, executive director, communications and digital media; Nancy Cicco, associate director of media relations

Detailed poll results available at www.uml.edu/polls. UMass Lowell representatives are available for interviews about new poll.

LOWELL, Mass. – Unhappy with President Donald Trump’s job performance, a majority of Americans surveyed in a new national poll believe the cost of the Iran war is too great, the country’s neighborhoods do not need immigration detention centers and more investigations connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be pursued.

Issued Thursday by the Center for Public Opinion at UMass Lowell and YouGov, the online survey of 1,000 American adults showed Trump’s approval rating sits at 39%, while 57% of respondents believe their lives have become somewhat or much more difficult over past six months and 67% believe the country is on the wrong track. 

Those numbers reflect a growing dissatisfaction when compared to the center’s October 2025 national survey of 1,000 American adults, which put Trump’s approval rating at 42%, while 52% of polltakers said their lives had become more difficult over the previous six months and 65% said the country is on the wrong track. In the new poll, 49% of respondents also said they feel a great deal or a lot of frustration with the Trump administration’s economic policies. 

Respondents Say Iran War is Too Costly

The Iran war is unpopular, the new poll shows. In it, 65% of respondents said the U.S. is spending too much on the conflict. Further, 45% of respondents feel a lot or a great deal of frustration with the Trump administration’s foreign policy, while 17% said they are moderately frustrated.

Results also show respondents are less than confident in the United States’ alliances in the Middle East. When asked whether the country’s close relationship with Israel does more to help or hurt U.S. interests, 42% said it does more to hurt, while 29% said it does more to help. Asked the same question about Saudi Arabia, 29% said the United States’ close relationship with the country does more to hurt U.S. interests, and 29% said it does more to help. 

“The Iran war is an unmitigated public-opinion disaster for the Trump administration,” said UMass Lowell’s John Cluverius, the center’s director of survey research and an associate professor of political science. “Most wars start out popular, get more popular with strategic victories, but then lose popularity over time. Not only does the war appear to be dragging down Trump’s approval rating, but he seems to have skipped the typical surge of popularity for military action and gone straight to the decline. Foreign policy blunders can affect public opinion even after the conflict is over, and escalation of the conflict would only worsen the political situation at home for the president.” 

Detention Centers Stoke Controversy

Similar to the October 2025 survey, the center’s latest poll shows divided views on immigration. Asked whether the government is doing too much or too little to help migrants find jobs and housing, 37% said too little and 34% said too much. Those results were similar to the October 2025 poll, which found 35% believed the government did too little and 32% believed the government did too much. When asked about the acceptable number of immigrants legally permitted to enter the United Sates, nearly half of respondents in the latest poll – 46% – want to keep the number about the same, while 31% want to decrease it and 23% want to increase it, figures nearly identical to the October 2025 poll results. 

However, opposition to immigration enforcement measures runs high: 62% of respondents in the latest poll said they would oppose an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center being built in their community, including 48% who said they would strongly oppose it. In addition, 56% of respondents said they oppose the deployment of ICE agents to U.S. commercial airports. 

“Immigration continues to divide Americans along familiar partisan lines, but our findings also point to a clear majority of respondents who express opposition with aggressive enforcement measures, including a majority of independents. Even in a polarized environment, there are limits to the policies the American public is willing to support,” said UMass Lowell’s Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, the center’s associate director and an assistant professor of political science.

Skepticism over the Epstein Files

Poll respondents showed broad, bipartisan support for more investigation into the conduct of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, alongside divided views on who in government is responsible for past failures to thoroughly investigate the case. 

Among respondents, 87% support pursuing criminal investigations of American individuals named in the Epstein files. A majority of respondents (65%) also believe Trump has a personal interest in withholding the release of the files, with 47% saying he definitely has such an interest.

When assigning blame for the lack of additional prosecutions, 41% of respondents said Trump is most responsible, compared to 29% who blame other people and 30% who say no one in particular is responsible. Additionally, 70% of respondents say it is at least somewhat likely that Epstein was connected to intelligence services, demonstrating widespread suspicion about the broader circumstances surrounding the case.

The poll asked respondents about their perceptions of a wide swath of public figures and political leaders, including Cabinet secretaries, governors and members of Congress. Of those still in office, only U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has a net positive favorability rating, with 39% of respondents who view him favorably and 33% who view him unfavorably. 

As in the October 2025 UMass Lowell/YouGov poll, only one person in the current survey received a favorability rating greater than 50% from polltakers who identified as Democrats, Republicans or independents: country music superstar Dolly Parton. 

The nonpartisan poll has an adjusted margin of error of +/- 4.05 percentage points and was conducted from March 26 to March 30. Funded by UMass Lowell, the survey was designed and analyzed by the university’s Center for Public Opinion and fielded by YouGov. Detailed poll results – including topline and full methodology – are available at www.uml.edu/polls.

The Center for Public Opinion presents events and polling on political and social issues to provide opportunities for civic engagement, experiential learning and real-world research. The center is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Transparency Initiative.