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Independent Voters Abandon Trump in Droves: Poll
Image of GV Wire news director and columnist Bill McEwen
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 1 hour ago on
January 28, 2026

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2026. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz/File)

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The latest Economist/YouGuv poll reveals that President Donald Trump has lost the confidence of the vast majority of independent voters.

Released Tuesday, the poll recorded a record low approval rating rating for Trump among independents at 27%. In addition, 67% of independents disapproved of Trump’s job performance in the polling conducted Jan. 23-26.

Despite the sinking numbers for the president, the poll advised that “it’s too early to say how much this drop reflects a long-term decline in approval among independents and how much is weekly survey variation.”

In the poll’s previous survey, Trump’s net job approval rating was 31 points underwater among independents compared to Tuesday’s minus-40 points.

How Does Trump Fare With Republicans?

Among all Americans, 49% strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance thus far in his second term. That’s more than twice the percentage (23%) of people who strongly approve of the way he’s running the country.

The poll reported that GOP voters continue to have strong confidence in Trump. Eighty-five percent of Republicans view him favorably compared to 13% giving him negative marks.

Among Democrats, 92% gave the president a thumbs-down and 6% offered a thumbs-up.

Is Trump in Cognitive/Physical Decline?

The poll also asked, “Do you think Donald Trump is suffering cognitive/physical decline?”

The answers broke along party lines.

While 66% of Democrats said that the president is in significant decline, only 5% of Republicans believed that to be true.

Thirty-five percent of independents answered that Trump is in significant decline.

Methodology

The poll was conducted among 1,684 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens.

The margin of error for the overall sample is about 3.5%.

Read more at this link.

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Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at bmcewen@gvwire.com

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