Cracks in the Foundation? New Harvard Harris Poll Shows Warning Signs for Trump Administration

A new poll from Harvard Harris has some potentially bad news for the second Trump administration. While some of the top-line numbers aren’t terrible, there does appear to be a crack forming in the foundation of how the public views the administration.

First, Trump’s overall job approval rating sits at 46% approve, 50% disapprove. Not a terrible result, especially for a president in his second term — and it’s better than many of the less accurate polls have shown recently.

However, that represents a two-point movement against the president since August, and it’s far worse than where he started at the beginning of his second term, when he was at 52% approval in this same poll.

Perhaps even more concerning was the question: “Is Trump doing better or worse than Biden?”

A majority, 52% to 48%, said Trump was doing better — but that’s a four-point shift away from Trump since August, when he led 54% to 46% on the same question.

On the question of whether respondents were satisfied that Trump won or wished Harris had won, Trump still led 51% to 49%, but that shows no real movement since the presidential election.

The poll also showed 53% of respondent blamed Republicans for the shutdown and only 47% blamed Democrats.

There was some good news for the administration in the poll. A series of Trump administration policies were listed, and respondents were asked whether they supported what the administration was doing. On every single issue, the administration received majority support.

That said, some of the questions were fairly obvious — such as supporting efforts to lower drug prices, which nearly everyone agrees with. But on the more controversial actions, like deporting the National Guard or bombing Iran, support was closer to 50–50.

So while there is some positive news in the new poll, there are definite cracks in the foundation that Trump and his allies should be concerned about. In most polls, Trump is now underwater on the economy, as a recent Morning Consult poll also showed. And with the economy being so fragile, the last thing this administration needs is to get into another conflict with Iran or attempt regime changes in Venezuela.

There was some good news on the inflation front, suggesting that Americans’ outlook on the economy may become more positive in the coming months. In the meantime, however, it would behoove the administration to avoid unnecessary conflicts, as the public still appears uncertain about how President Trump is performing so far in his second term.

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