Newsweek, November 2026
As Americans vote in the midterm elections today, President Donald Trump is underwater in 39 states and every major battleground, according to new polling. Trump has repeatedly urged Republican supporters to behave as if he were personally on the ballot during a campaign blitz designed to protect the party’s congressional majorities. That message makes his own standing particularly relevant as voters decide which party should control Congress.
Costas Panagopoulos, a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Newsweek that midterm results are “very closely linked” to approval of the incumbent president’s party. They allow voters to deliver a verdict on the administration’s first two years. “In many ways, midterms are referenda on incumbent party performance,” Panagopoulos said. The figures come from Civiqs’ rolling tracker of registered voters. This is based on 140,354 responses collected between January 20, 2025 and November 2, 2026. A Newsweek analysis compares the latest state ratings with those recorded when Trump began his second term, with net approval calculated as approval minus disapproval. Nationally, 33 percent approve of Trump’s job performance and 60 percent disapprove, giving him a net approval rating of minus 27.
