Trump's approval rating remains near historic lows despite small bump

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President Donald Trump’s approval rating got a small reprieve this week, as a new Economist/YouGov poll released on Tuesday, Aug. 4, showed that 36% of Americans approved of his job performance.Although Trump’s approval rating is still hovering near record lows, the president's numbers did improve by 2 percentage points compared with last week’s Economist/YouGov poll. The previous poll, released July 28, showed that just 34% of Americans approved of Trump's job performance.The most recent poll found that 64% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, while 30% of respondents said we are “generally” heading in the right direction.This Economist/YouGov poll was conducted July 31 to Aug. 3 among 1,609 adults. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.Democrats’ performanceDespite Americans’ negative responses about Trump and the direction of the country, Democrats have gained little ground politically, as they lead Republicans by just 4 percentage points on a generic congressional ballot. Democrats’ lead over the GOP remains the same as last week's poll.However, outside of the generic congressional ballot, Americans say Democrats are better for the economy than Republicans. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Aug. 3, 37% of respondents chose Democrats over the GOP on economic policy. This is the first time Democrats have led this metric in a decade of Reuters/Ipsos polling.Economic hardships continueAs Trump’s approval rating remains in the 30s, a majority of Americans continue to express unhappiness with the state of the economy.According to the Economist/YouGov poll on Aug. 4, 57% of respondents said the economy is getting worse, while only 16% said they thought economic conditions were improving.The same poll found that 70% of Americans said the price of gas has increased substantially in the last year. According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of gas on Aug. 4 was $4.08. A year ago, on Aug. 4, 2025, AAA reported the price of a gallon was $3.15.What do polling averages show?While individual polls vary, major polling averages continue to show Trump in negative territory overall:RealClearPolitics (Aug. 4): 38.9% approve, 58.5% disapproveNew York Times (Aug. 4): 38% approve, 59% disapproveSilver Bulletin (Aug. 4): 38.1% approve, 58.5% disapproveUSA TODAY’s Kinsey Crowley and Reuters contributed to this report.Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.