Trump’s economy, foreign policy approval underwater as he nears 100-day milestone: polls
Donald Trump’s approval ratings are sinking, according to a new poll, as the US President flogs merchandise online, spruiking a 2028 run for office.
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Donald Trump’s approval ratings have taken a downturn as he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, with majorities of Americans knocking his handling of the economy and foreign policy but giving him more credit on immigration issues, according to recent polls.
A Fox News survey found that 59 per cent of American voters disapprove of President Trump’s handling of inflation, 58 per cent are against his tariffs, 56 per cent dislike his economic moves, 53 per cent are not keen on his tax agenda, 54 per cent don’t favour his foreign policy actions, and 48 per cent scorn his stance on immigration.
In one bright spot for the administration, 55 per cent of US voters agreed with Mr Trump’s move to beef-up border security, while 40 per cent disapproved of it.
By contrast, 47 per cent back Mr Trump’s immigration policies, 40 per cent like his foreign policy, 38 per cent are in favour of his economic agenda, including taxes, and 33 per cent support his tariffs and actions against inflation.
Overall, the 47th president has lost five percentage points off his job performance rating in the Fox poll since March, sinking from 49 per cent to 44 per cent — below his predecessors Joe Biden (54 per cent), Barack Obama (62 per cent) and George W. Bush (63 per cent) at the same point in their terms.
The polling figures are a blow to the “mandate” Mr Trump claimed he won in the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris, though the 47th president has improved somewhat upon Mr Biden’s numbers at the conclusion of his term.
Then, as many as 68 per cent of American voters were dissatisfied with Mr Biden when he left the Oval Office, compared with the 59 per cent who said the same about Mr Trump now.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s online store is selling clothing emblazoned “Trump 2028,” the year of the next US presidential election, in which the Republican is constitutionally banned from running.
The 78-year-old has not ruled out serving a third term - though most spectators consider that highly unlikely.
And there it is.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 24, 2025
Donald Trump is now selling “Trump 2028†hats on his official website, even though it is unconstitutional for him to run again. pic.twitter.com/cAr0GfOOCR
A social media account linked to Mr Trump shared a photo of his son Eric sporting one of the new red caps, which is priced at $US50 ($A78).
“Make a statement with this Made in America Trump 2028 hat,” a product description on the Trump Store website says.
The shop is also selling T-shirts in navy and red, priced at $US36 ($A56), which read “Trump 2028 (Rewrite the Rules).”
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TRUMP ENVOY WITKOFF TO MEET WITH IRAN
US envoy Steve Witkoff will take part in talks with Iran on Saturday in Oman, his third encounter within weeks on Tehran’s nuclear program, the State Department said.
Michael Anton, a conservative scholar who serves as the State Department head of policy planning, will lead technical work on the US side, the State Department said.
“The next round of talks will take place in Oman on Saturday, and will be the first meeting of technical teams,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“Special Envoy Witkoff also will be present,” she said.
President Donald Trump, who ripped up an earlier deal with Iran in 2018, has voiced hope for a diplomatic solution on Iran’s contested nuclear program and has discouraged Israel from a military strike.
TRUMP TO DO INTERVIEW WITH GROUP CHAT SECURITY BREACH JOURNO
President Trump announced that he will give a rare Oval Office interview to Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat on Yemen air strikes last month.
“Later today I will be meeting with, of all people, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor of The Atlantic, and the person responsible for many fictional stories about me, including the made-up HOAX on ‘Suckers and Losers’ and, SignalGate, something he was somewhat more ‘successful’ with,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Mr Trump wrote: “Jeffrey is bringing with him Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, not exactly pro-Trump writers, either, to put it mildly! The story they are writing, they have told my representatives, will be entitled, ‘The Most Consequential President of this Century.’ I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful.’”
“Are they capable of writing a fair story on ‘TRUMP’? The way I look at it, what can be so bad – I WON!”
Goldberg’s stunning inclusion in the Yemen strikes chat sent shockwaves through the national security establishment and around the world, leading to calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host.
Mr Hegseth, who is a military veteran but had no previous national security experience, revealed the times of strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis and the type of aircraft, missiles and drones used - all before the attacks actually happened.
Democrats have claimed that the lives of US service members could have been put at risk by the breach, and Mr Trump has so far stood by Mr Hegseth and other top officials on the chat, dismissing the scandal as a “witch hunt” and arguing that his Pentagon chief is doing a “great job.”
Mr Goldberg drew the US president’s ire in 2020 for an article in which he reported senior US military officers hearing the president call soldiers killed in World War I “suckers” and “losers.”
Mr Trump has angrily denied the claim on multiple occasions but John Kelly, his chief of staff at the time of the purported remark, confirmed Goldberg’s reporting.
TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO PUSH TRANS BAN
The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to permit the president’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military to take effect while legal challenges play out.
A US judge issued a temporary injunction last month blocking the implementation of the ban and an appeals court subsequently denied the government’s request to stay the lower court’s order.
In a January 27 executive order, Mr Trump stated that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
The restrictions in a Pentagon memo are aimed at those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria - of whom there were 4,240 serving in the military as of late last year, according to a senior defence official - as well as those who have a history of the condition or exhibit symptoms of it.
Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democrat administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Mr Trump has sought to keep them out of the ranks.
TRUMP BASHES HARVARD AS CASE HEADS TO COURT
US President Donald Trump bashed Harvard as an “anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution,” as the prestigious university battles his administration’s funding freeze in court.
The latest outburst from Mr Trump comes as his administration pursues an unprecedented pressure campaign against US universities, citing alleged inaction on anti-Semitism during last year’s nationwide Gaza war protests.
The administration has threatened several top-tier universities with funding freezes and other punishments, prompting concerns over declining academic freedom.
It has also moved to revoke visas and deport foreign students involved the protests, accusing them of supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel provoked the war.
Harvard, which has seen billions in federal funding frozen after it rejected wide-ranging government oversight, filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday.
“The place is a Liberal mess,” President Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, also complaining that it has admitted students “from all over the World that want to rip our Country apart.”
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA’S BRANSON RIPS INTO TRUMP
Virgin Australia founder Sir Richard Branson has ripped into Donald Trump, with the business tycoon accusing the US President of “doing so much damage to the world”.
The billionaire entrepreneur warned that the “erratic and unpredictable” actions of the White House were undermining business, although he said Mr Trump’s policy on Ukraine was the one that “should worry the world the most”.
Speaking to reporters before Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural flight to mark the start of services from London to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, Sir Richard said that Mr Trump’s policies were “awful for everyone”, The Times reports.
He said: “I honestly think this is a fairly small elite of people around Trump. I don’t think he is carrying the vast majority of Americans in what he is doing.”
He said Mr Trump’s policies were “very difficult for business to deal with”, adding: “It’s just such a pity because everything was going so bloody well up to about three months ago.
“If you take Virgin – our cruise ships were booming, our airlines were booming, our health clubs were full.
“They are still OK, but you just sort of feel, eurgh! If he continues he’s in such danger of doing so much damage in the world.”
TRUMP TARIFF TENSIONS SIMMER
President Trump’s promises of securing trade deals with major partners took another blow Thursday, with a French minister saying an agreement with the EU was “a long way” off and China insisting talks had not even started.
He saved his toughest blows for China, slapping an additional 145 per cent tariff on goods from the world’s second biggest economy this year - drawing strong retaliation.
Beijing has called claims of ongoing trade talks “groundless.”
Separately, France’s economy minister Eric Lombard said Thursday in Washington that the EU and United States are far from reaching a deal on tariffs.
Asked about the state of negotiations with Beijing, Mr Trump maintained on Thursday: “We’ve been meeting with China.”
He did not give details on who was taking part in these discussions. Yet, hours earlier, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong told reporters: “I would like to emphasise that there are currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States.”
China’s foreign ministry also called reports of ongoing talks “false.”
On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that Washington and Beijing were “not yet” speaking on lowering tariffs.
He added that staggeringly high tariff levels would have to come down before trade talks can happen, and stressed that Trump has not made any unilateral offer to slash duties on Chinese products.
On Thursday, a White House official told AFP the Trump administration was looking at “streamlining overlap” between tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium, as well as those imposed over illicit fentanyl.
The Trump administration is considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports, in some cases by more than half, in a bid to de-escalate tensions with Beijing, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Sources told The WSJ that Mr Trump had not made a final decision but several options were on the table.
One senior White House official told the paper that the China tariffs were likely to come down to between roughly 50 per cent and 65 per cent.
It came after Mr Trump said on Wednesday that he would play “hardball” with China, telling reporters in the White House that tariffs on Chinese imports would be reduced “substantially” and would ultimately not be “anywhere near” the current 145 per cent.
WHITE HOUSE FLOATS BABY BONUS
The Trump administration is considering offering $5000 baby bonuses for new parents in a bid to halt declining birthrates in the United States.
A range of measures are being considered by the White House, including fertility education and scholarships reserved for parents, the New York Times reports.
Among the options is a $5000 lump sum cash payment for new parents, similar to the initiative introduced in Australia by the Howard government in 2004.
At the time, then-treasurer Peter Costello asked families to have “one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country”.
Donald Trump has been vocal about his support of traditional family values and has already signed an executive order seeking to reduce barriers to IVF for Americans, including by protecting access and reducing out-of-pocket expenses.
“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely,” Mr Trump said at the time.
“But the IVF treatments are expensive.
“It’s very hard for many people to do it and to get it, but I’ve been in favour of IVF, right from the beginning.”
More than 85,000 children were born as a result of IVF in the US in 2021 and the cost ranges from $12,000 to $25,000 per cycle.
Mr Trump’s White House has been particularly child friendly, with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk regularly bringing his young son X to events.
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