Donald Trump is definitely exceptional – so exceptional that he is now the most unpopular President in the history of Presidential polling.

When asked in a Quinnipiac poll if they approved or disapproved of the way Trump was handling his job as President, a majority (52%) said they disapproved while just 38% approved and 8% said they didn’t know.

Trump’s policies are also widely opposed. Only 27% of registered voters support the Trump budget reconciliation bill, while 53% oppose it. As for Trump himself, a Quinnipiac Poll from June 11 showed that 38% of registered voters approve of the way he is handling the job of the presidency, while 54% disapprove. Only 30% of registered voters approved ‘strongly’ of the way he is handling the job, while 49% strongly disapprove.

More Democrats than Republicans are now, unsurprisingly, concerned about the economy following the President’s return to power. But pessimism was higher for women even among Republicans and independents, according to a new Harris poll. He also has a problem with women. Overall, 62% of women and 47% of men said that the economy and inflation were getting worse, a gap of 15 percentage points. The gender gap crossed party lines with both Democratic and Republican women expressing greater concerns about the economy than men did.

Americans have already turned against Trump’s handling of immigration and deportations by significant margins according to G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers who summarized the polls from June 9–13 asking the question Do you approve of the way the president is handling…immigration? respondents for YouGov/Economist were the only ones to produce a majority—of just four points—saying yes. For AP-NORC, Quinnipiac, and Washington Post/GMU, the answer was no by as much as 15 points. On every other question dealing with immigration, more people opposed Trump’s policies than supported them by as much as 16 points.

As for other issues a majority disapproved on the issues of prices and inflation, health care, government funding and social programs, trade with other countries, managing the Federal government workforce, foreign policy, education, and border security with the last being disapproved of by 53%. The only issue on which a majority was not in favour was immigration where 49% approved and 46% disapproved.

Heather Cox Richardson reported (11/6) that another Quinnipiac poll of registered voters found voters aren’t keen on his appointees either. 53% disapproved of how Robert F. Kennedy Jnr is handing his job. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defence had a 37% approval and a 46% disapproval. Elon Musk (now erased from Trump world) had 38% approval while 57% said he was either ‘not so good’ or ‘poor’.

Trump’s other policies are underwater as well. Handling of the economy had a 54% disapproval; immigration 54%; trade 57%; handling the Israel-Hamas conflict 54%; and the Russia-Ukraine War 57%. As for universities, 54% disapproved and most would be confident that Harvard will stay be around long after Trump is gone.

The Pew Research Center reported (11/6) on how 24 nations regarded Trump. They found that more than half of people in those countries lack confidence in Trump’s leadership of world affairs. They had little confidence in his abilities to handle issues such as immigration, the Russia-Ukraine War, US China Relations, global economic problems, climate change and conflicts between Israel and its neighbours. Events on the last topic having changed so radically since the survey was taken we can only guess at how they think about Israel and Iran now.

The only countries to have more confidence in Trump in 2025 compared with 2024 were Israel, Nigeria and Turkey. Those who had low confidence in Trump were Canada, Hungary (so much for the love fest with that fellow authoritarian), UK, Greece, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, India, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico (91% of Mexicans having no confidence in Trump).

What is most significant perhaps is that (while it is a long way off) 45% of US adults say they would back the Democratic candidate in their local congressional district versus 37% the Republican.  That would translate into a gain of 20 House seats in 2025 and probably make impeachment inevitable. It’s early days but the other finding in the survey was that while in May 33% said the country was on the right track and 55% said wrong the respective figures are now 31% and 55%.

While Trump is pondering whether to plunge the world into an event more dangerous place by bombing Iran only 16% of Americans (The Economist/YouGov poll) think the US should get involved in the Iran-Israel conflict and 60% are opposed.

Meanwhile Australians are also clearly unsettled by what they’ve seen of the second Trump administration. According to the Lowy Institute poll almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of Australians now hold little to no trust in the United States to act responsibly – the lowest level in the history of the Lowy Institute Poll The poll showed Trump having a 56% disapproval rate among Australians. Perhaps some in the Australian media should be less perturbed about whether and when our PM gets to meet Trump.