Key takeaways:
- Trump’s approval stood at 38% among midterm voters, down from 45% in 2018, according to NBC News.
- NBC News found 75% of voters said the economy was in rough shape and 65% said Trump’s policies had made it worse.
- Forty-three percent said opposition to Trump was one reason for their vote, according to NBC News.
President Donald Trump’s approval rating stands at 38% among midterm voters, according to early exit polls from NBC News and CBS News, as many voters express frustration with the economy and the direction of the country.
Forty-three percent of voters said one reason for their vote was to oppose Trump, NBC News reported, a substantially larger share than in the 2018 midterms during his first term. CBS News found that roughly six in 10 voters said Trump was a factor in their vote for the House. Opposition to him was a strong motivation among voters backing Democrats, while most non-MAGA Republicans said he was not a factor, according to CBS News.
Trump’s approval among voters is down from 45% in the 2018 midterms, according to NBC News. Majorities of Senate voters in Georgia, Ohio, Michigan and Texas disapproved of his job performance. CBS News said the early figures put Trump on track for the lowest presidential approval rating in a midterm election, below George W. Bush’s rating in 2006, when Republicans lost both houses of Congress.
Economic concerns run through the polling. NBC News found that 75% of voters described the U.S. economy as being in rough shape, while 65% said Trump’s policies had made it worse and 62% held him responsible for high prices. About half said the cost of living was crucial to their vote. In 2018, by contrast, 68% of voters said the economy was in good shape.
Nearly half said their finances were worse than two years ago, compared with 18% who said they were better off. Just under eight in 10 said inflation was causing hardship for their families. Concern was widespread over food and groceries, cited by 88%; gas and diesel fuel, 87%; utilities, 86%; and health care, 85%. Voters ranked the economy as the country’s most important issue at 39%, followed by the state of democracy at 32%.
CBS News reported that roughly three-quarters of voters were dissatisfied or angry about the direction of the country. More voters were angry than in 2024, and negative views of the economy had increased over the same period, its early polling found.
Neither party received a favorable assessment from a majority in the NBC News poll. Fifty-four percent viewed the Democratic Party unfavorably, compared with 59% for the Republican Party. Nearly one in five viewed neither party favorably. Voters gave Democrats an edge on handling the economy, foreign policy, health care, government corruption and policies concerning transgender people; Republicans led on immigration. Voters were split on taxes and artificial intelligence.
NBC News also found that 43% of Latino voters identified as Democrats, up from 39% in 2024, while the Republican share fell from 29% to 27%. That gave Democrats a 16-point advantage in party identification among Latino voters, up from 10 points in 2024. NBC News said young voters also appeared to be shifting back toward the Democratic Party.
Both outlets described their findings as early results. CBS News said its exit poll results would continue to update through election night.
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