U.S. President Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Sinks – Shutdown Standoff Fuels Backlash

The approval rating of U.S. President Donald Trump is reaching new lows, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published this week.

Donald Trump Sees Steep Disapproval in New Poll

Conducted between October 3 and October 7, the poll finds that 40% of Americans approve of Trump, while 58% disapprove. According to Reuters, the majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s move to militarize law enforcement.

Similarly, a recent poll from HarrisX shows that 46% of Americans approve of Trump, while half disapprove.

U.S. Government Shutdown Drags on Amid Political Polarization

The latest figures on Trump come as the U.S. government’s political chaos continues following the failure of Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on government spending bills before the October 1 deadline.

During a Thursday Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump vowed to cut “only” Democratic programs in response to the shutdown.

Trump: We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans, frankly. That's the way it works.

— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) October 9, 2025

“They wanted to do this,” Trump said, adding that they will “get a little taste of their own medicine.”

With mounting political gridlock, 86% of bettors on the decentralized prediction market Polymarket are predicting that the government shutdown will drag on until October 15 at the earliest.

Trump, who largely ran his 2024 campaign on appeals to the blockchain sector, has frequently pushed for rolling back enforcement-based actions on the digital asset industry.

However, critics argue his ventures in the crypto space could pose ethical concerns while he’s in the Oval Office.

“If Congress is going to ratify a sweeping crypto regulatory regime, it is critical to shut down the president’s crypto corruption. This means prohibiting public officials, including the president, from issuing, sponsoring, or profiting from crypto tokens,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said in a recent hearing. “I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to get this done—the right way.”

However, with Democrats and Republicans still in a contentious standoff over government spending, it is still unclear how the two parties will find a harmonious path forward on crypto policy.