The latest Gallup survey shows that satisfaction with the direction of the U.S. stands at essentially 0% among Democrats, compared to 76% among Republicans — the widest gap in the poll’s history.
Gallup noted the partisan gap hit 75 points in May and 74 points in March and July, levels not seen since October 2004. Meanwhile, just 25% of independents expressed satisfaction with the country’s direction.
Gallup emphasized that in July 2024, 1% of Republicans were satisfied with the country’s direction and 97% were dissatisfied. At the time, however, “because just 36% of Democrats were satisfied,” the gap was only 35 points.
The poll found that overall, 31% of Americans are currently satisfied with the direction of the country. This is down from 38% in May. But Gallup pointed out that in late October, the figure stood at 26%, and averaged approximately 22% during Biden’s presidency.
It should be noted that the RealClearPolitics average of right track/wrong track polls on Friday showed that 40.4% believe the U.S. is heading in the right direction, vs. 53.8% who think the country is on the wrong track, a difference of 13.4%.
A look at the history of this poll shows that while the out-of-power party typically expresses dissatisfaction with the state of national affairs, rarely does the divide reach the level seen today. Signs of this partisan polarization are visible everywhere.
The poll showed President Donald Trump’s job approval at 40%, down from 43% during the first five months of his presidency. Broken down by party, 93% of Republicans approve of Trump’s performance, compared to 35% of Independents and 1% of Democrats.
Regarding the 92-point gap between Republicans and Democrats, Gallup reports:
This ties the record for the largest partisan divide in Gallup’s presidential approval trends, first recorded in October 2020, right before the 2020 election.The 1% of Democrats approving of Trump today matches their lowest approval rating for any Republican president, tying the figure recorded in June 2025. While strikingly low, this is on par with Democrats’ 2% approval rating of Trump in June 2020 and July 2025 and similar to their 3% ratings of George W. Bush in 2008 during the global financial crisis.For comparison, Republicans’ lowest approval for any Democratic president was 2% for Joe Biden in several 2023-2024 polls.
It’s worth mentioning that the current RealClearPolitics average of polls pegs Trump’s support at 45.7%.
Just 37% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and 39% his foreign policy, both down five points from February.
On the economy, 93% of Republicans, 29% of Independents, and 4% of Democrats back Trump.
Similarly, on foreign policy, 92% of Republicans, 33% of Independents, and 3% of Democrats support Trump.
Are you getting the feeling that Democratic approval of Trump would remain in the low single digits even if the GDP rose to 5% and Trump ended the Russia-Ukraine war?
This Gallup poll of U.S. adults was conducted between August 1-20.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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