Americans vent disappointment with Trump ahead of his 100-day mark, especially on tariffs

Americans are delivering a negative verdict on President Donald Trump’s performance as he nears the 100-day mark of his second term, according to a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey. That includes a sharp divide on his handling of immigration, long his strongest issue in polls, and deep disapproval of Trump’s tariffs.

Overall, the results show a majority of American adults — 55% — disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 45% approve. What’s more, the vehemence of the opposition outweighs the intensity of support from the president’s MAGA base.

Just over 4 in 10 Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing, while only a quarter strongly approve. And when asked to label the emotions Trump evokes, strong negatives like “angry” and “furious” outweighed responses for the strongest positives, “happy” and “thrilled.”

Those broad assessments come as Trump falls short of majority support on any specific policy issues tested in the survey. On immigration, a strength of his throughout the 2024 campaign and still his best issue among those polled, adults were split, with 49% approving of his handling of border security and immigration and 51% disapproving. Meanwhile, the tariffs at the center of Trump’s economic agenda (and of recent news coverage of his administration) earned Trump’s lowest issue ratings, with 39% approving of his handling of the issue and 61% disapproving.

The results reflect responses from 19,682 adults who were surveyed from April 11-20, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. And they illustrate a tough road ahead for the Trump administration unless something shifts.

Sixty percent of Americans said the United States is on the wrong track, compared to 40% who said it’s on the right track. Republicans were the group most likely to say the country is on the right track (80%), including 89% of Republicans who identify as MAGA-aligned — the core of Trump’s base.

When looking at the intersection of race, gender and college attendance, the only group where a majority thinks the country is on the right track is white men without college degrees (54%).

There are predictable partisan splits on how people see Trump, with the vast majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents (88%) approving of the job Trump is doing, while only 7% of Democrats and Democratic leaners do. Critically, adults who identify as independents are far more likely to disapprove (68%) than approve (32%).