Trump II reaches the six-month mark

Yesterday marked exactly six months since President Trump assumed office for his second term, a span Trump referred to as “one of the most consequential periods of any President” in a social media post marking the occasion.

A recap of Trump II to date

Four key topics have been at the forefront of the president’s agenda during his second term in office:

1. Federal spending: Trump created DOGE to target what he calls wasteful government spending, with its cuts now starting to be codified into law. Trump also signed a massive tax-and-spending measure—initially called the “Big Beautiful Bill”—into law this month, after pushing it through Congress despite opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans.
2. Immigration: The President has ramped up federal immigration raids and arrests, overseen a dramatic decrease in the number of illegal border crossings—which reached their lowest level in recorded history last month—and signed a travel ban blocking entry to residents from 19 countries.
3. Tariffs: The second Trump admin has implemented a novel and aggressive tariff policy involving rate hikes for nearly all US trading partners, citing a range of economic and national security concerns. Trump’s latest round of “reciprocal” tariffs are set to take effect on August 1, though such deadlines have been fluid in the past.
4. Foreign wars: Trump has been at the forefront of talks with Israel to end the ongoing war in Gaza, and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end their ongoing war. He also teamed up with Israel for a massive US military strike targeting Iran’s three main nuclear sites that caused major damage, though the full extent is still unclear.

What do the polls say? US voters disapprove of Trump by a 6.6-point margin after his first six months in office, according to RealClearPolitics’ polling aggregator (45.5% approve vs. 52.1% disapprove). That’s close to the worst ratings gap of Trump’s second term thus far—but still better than his first term, when White House approval ratings rarely rose above 45%.

Looking ahead…Presidential approval ratings are usually a good indicator of what will happen in the midterms. There's still plenty of time for things to change over the next 15+ months, but if the 2026 midterms were held today, 45.1% of registered voters would support a generic Democrat congressional candidate in their district versus 42.6% for Republicans, per RCP.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job Trump has done as President thus far?

• Approve
• Disapprove
• Unsure/other