Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump
Kit Roberts
Donald Trump's approval ratings have dropped to a new low as he beat his own record for a government shutdown.
He might have won the presidency this time last year, but Trump's MAGA movement and the Republican Party more broadly are smarting from a bruising series of local election results in the US.
Not least among them was the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral elections, despite Trump endorsing Andrew Cuomo who who stood as an independent after Mamdani beat him in the Democratic primary.
But while Mamdani's victory has been mainly put down to a well-run campaign focusing on key issues like affordability, the past year has also seen opinion polls turning against the president.
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So, just how much have things gotten worse for Trump's approval ratings?
A poll from CNN and SSRS was released on 3 November, which placed Trump's approval rating at 37 percent.
This is the lowest approval rating of his second term so far, but it is still one point higher than the 36 percent rating he had at this stage in his first term.
For his part, Trump is entirely unfazed, telling the America Business Forum on 5 November in Miami: "I think it's the best nine months, they say, of any president. And I really believe that. If we can have a few more nine months, like this, you'll be very happy, very satisfied."
Trump's second presidency has also had to contend with a federal government shutdown, which has plunged tens of thousands of people into uncertainty.
The shutdown overtook the previous longest federal shutdown, which happened during Trump's first stint in the White House.
It has happened as Republicans have been unable to secure a large enough majority to get their budget bill passed, and have to rely on some Democrats voting in favour to get it passed.
This has given the Democrats leverage over the contents of the bill, and they are refusing to vote it through unless it is changed.
With the Republicans in turn refusing to make those changes, the government has entered a deadlock.
As for the shutdown itself, a poll from YouGov and The Economist suggested that voters are viewing this as the fault of both parties.
While Republicans are catching slightly more of the blame, with 35 percent of respondents saying that it's mainly their fault, the Democrats are not far behind at 32 percent, while 28 percent say both are equally responsible.
The last week has been painful for Trump, and the president is likely to have his eye firmly on the fast-approaching midterms.