Donald Trump has 99 problems, and popularity is not one of them.
The Republican strategy for the midterm elections has always been to stick to Trump and hope that he can bring the party’s most faithful to the polls to help them preserve their majority in Congress and prevent Trump from becoming a lame-duck president.
For nearly a decade, Trump has been able to count on the support of the MAGA base and Republicans who say they are ready to side with the president for “political” reasons.
This is all changing quickly, and a few issues seem to be the main reasons why.
A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found:
65% of Americans, up from 54% in June 2025, believe ICE’s actions have gone too far in enforcing immigration laws. 12%, compared to 18%, believe that ICE’s actions have not gone far enough. And 22% believe ICE’s actions are completely fair in enforcing immigration laws. This figure is down slightly from the previous 26%.
Growing shares of Democrats (93% vs. 83%) and independents (71% vs. 59%) believe ICE’s actions in enforcing immigration laws have gone too far. A majority of Republicans (45%), compared to 49%, say ICE’s actions are about right. The share of Republicans who believe ICE has gone too far increased from 20% to 27%.
If immigration were Trump’s only problem, Republicans might have some hope, but the situation is much worse.