President Donald Trump had a public break with one of his most ardent supporters, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, over the Epstein files. But most Republicans remain firmly supportive of the president, according to recent polls.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Newsweek that Trump has cultivated “immense support and loyalty” from Republicans rooted in his “ability to champion the America First policies that work.”
Why It Matters
Trump’s approval rating has key implications for the Republican Party ahead of the 2026 midterms, when the GOP will be working to thwart a 2018-style “blue wave.” Trump’s victory in 2024 was fueled by making inroads with traditionally Democratic groups like young or Hispanic voters, and recent polls have suggested his support has waned among those groups since his return to office in January amid concerns about the economy and the release of the Epstein files.
That culminated in a public feud with Greene, who announced she is resigning from Congress in January 2026, rather than seeking a third term in her deeply conservative district. Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told Axios he considered resigning from his Omaha-based swing district over frustration with the administration’s proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan.
What To Know
While some Republicans in Congress have become more frustrated with the president, polls don’t suggest that has translated to Republican voters. Most recent surveys show him with approval from the vast majority of conservatives.
Eighty-eight percent of Republicans continue to give Trump positive marks, according to YouGov’s polling aggregate; that does mark a slight decline from January, when 94 percent approved of him, but still suggests the party’s voters remain firmly in his corner. The aggregate is based on weekly polling of anywhere between 1,329 to 3,000 registered voters.
Other polls have yielded similar numbers for the president.
The latest Marist poll found that 89 percent of Republicans approve of Trump, compared to 39 percent of the overall electorate. It surveyed 1,443 adults from November 10-13. Its results were statistically significant within plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A Quantus Insights poll found that 84 percent of Republicans approve of Trump, compared to 43 percent of the overall electorate. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters from November 11-12 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
Meanwhile, an Emerson College poll showed Trump with an 88 percent approval rating among his 2024 voters; across the entire electorate, only 41 percent approved of Trump. Emerson polled 1,000 registered voters from November 3-4, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
These results aren’t surprising, GOP strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek on Tuesday.
“Republicans realize that their future success rests with a successful Donald Trump. His successes—control of the border, accomplishments on immigration, lower gas prices, and passing the One Big Beautiful Bill—will play a large role in determining success in the midterm elections and beyond,” he said.
Even as Trump remains popular among Republican voters, the national party still faces a “challenge” with some of those voters in the midterms, according to Klink.
“The biggest challenge that Trump and Republicans face is that Republicans fare better with Trump on the ballot, but underperform with Trump not on the ballot,” he said. “Donald Trump needs to look for and advocate for issues that generate enthusiasm among the Republican base, as well as MAGA. More importantly, Donald Trump needs to aggressively hit the campaign trail and work for Republican turnout and enthusiasm.”
Brent Buchanan, president and founder of Cygnal, told Newsweek that his monthly surveys show “zero movement” in Republicans’ views of Trump.
The bigger issue for Trump is independent, younger voters who supported him last November who have since soured on him, Buchanan said.
“I don’t think there’s anything that could get between how the base feels about Trump. It’s those who were the newer part of the 2024 coalition to push Trump over the finish line where this frustration about a system that isn’t being changed,” he said.
Those voters worry that Trump will not bring the “radical reform they believe is necessary for them to success in this country,” he said.
Greene, a conservative first elected in 2020, has long been a close ally of Trump, though she has voiced some differences with the president on foreign policy. But the files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, became a sticking point in their relationship.
Trump signaled he would release the files while campaigning, but faced criticism for not quickly doing so when he returned to office. He has garnered some backlash from conservatives over it.
However, Trump has since signed a bill into law that will require their release in December.
What People Are Saying
Pollster Brent Buchanan also told Newsweek: “We have an interesting data point of likely midterm voters who also supported Trump in 2024. Seventy-nine percent say they’ll vote no matter what. Twelve percent are looking for the Trump-endorsed candidate. Five percent are less motivated to vote if Trump is not on the ballot, or don’t want to vote because they believe only Trump can bring the change they desire. What this data doesn’t capture is all the Trump 2024 voters who aren’t planning to vote in the midterm at all. That’s the story: How do you show real progress in governing to bring those people back out to vote GOP?”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Newsweek: “President Trump’s repeated dominance in GOP primaries – from his own presidential bids to his stellar endorsement track record – is proof that he is the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. The immense support and loyalty that President Trump has cultivated among everyday voters is rooted in his ability to champion the America First policies that work, such as tax cuts and deregulation, while smashing the status quo when it lets the American people down, such as lopsided ‘free’ trade deals and our broken healthcare system. President Trump will continue to base his decision-making solely on what’s best for the American people, and the Republican Party remains firmly behind his efforts to Make America Great Again.”
CNN data analyst Harry Enten wrote Tuesday on X: “Trump’s support with GOP voters remains, to quote Bob Seger, like a rock. 87% approve of him, equal to 6 months ago & higher than any other 21st century prez had within their own party at this point in term 2. MTG knew going up vs. Trump in a primary is like facing a buzzsaw.”
What Happens Next
Trump’s approval rating will continue to be monitored as a key barometer of the electorate’s mood heading into the new year, as candidates ramp up campaigning for the midterms.