This piece breaks down the latest national poll and what voters are saying about the economy, pocketbook pain, political responsibility, and how trust in both parties and leaders is shifting in real time.
Voters are clearly fed up with rising prices and they are vocal about who they hold responsible. Most now rate the national economy as poor or only fair, with wide majorities reporting higher costs for groceries, utilities, healthcare, and housing this year. These real-life pressures are driving historic drops in approval inside the president’s own party and cooling favorability for both major parties.
Personal finances are bleak for a lot of households, especially those without a college degree and families earning under $50,000. Only about four in ten say their finances are excellent or good, while six in ten place themselves in the fair or poor categories. For many voters, budget strain is not an abstract statistic but an everyday squeeze they feel at the grocery store, at the pump, and when paying bills.
Across the electorate, 76 percent judge the economy negatively, a noticeable rise from earlier readings. People report specific price hikes: vast majorities say groceries went up, and three in four say utilities, healthcare, and housing are more expensive than last year. Those durable, visible hits to household budgets explain why economic pessimism has hardened even among groups that usually vote Republican.
When asked who is responsible, a sizable plurality points at the president. By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters say President Trump is more responsible for current conditions than his predecessor. That blame is translating into political fallout: approval for Trump’s handling of the economy and overall job performance has slid to levels that worry his supporters.
The fallout extends beyond the president. Favorable views of both parties have dropped since summer, and many voters now say lawmakers on either side do not care about people like them. The recent government shutdown left a bitter taste for a sizable minority who reported hardship, and two-thirds disapprove of how leaders managed the standoff. That lack of confidence feeds into the sense that the political class is out of touch.
On policy competence, voters still split the map: Republicans win the edge on border security, immigration, and crime, while Democrats get the nod on affordability, wages, healthcare, and climate issues. Views on job creation are essentially tied. On foreign policy, ratings are mixed — Trump’s foreign-policy approval sits underwater, yet the public is evenly divided on whether recent peace agreements make the world safer.
“The situation isn’t complicated,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “People are struggling to afford necessities and blaming those in charge. What’s interesting is watching Democrats gain politically from a problem they arguably caused — and that crushed them in 2024. But that’s politics.” That blunt appraisal reflects how pocketbook pain can realign short-term political advantage even while long-term loyalties hold.
Top leaders are taking hits in the numbers. Several congressional figures show weaker favorability than earlier in the year, with some at record lows. A large share of voters say the branches of government are failing to perform proper checks and balances, expressing concern that both Congress and the Supreme Court are not living up to their constitutional roles. That institutional anxiety adds another layer to the electorate’s dissatisfaction.
The poll was conducted November 14-17, 2025, with a sample of 1,005 registered voters chosen from a national voter file and includes interviews by landline, cellphone, and online response. Results have a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for the full sample, and subgroup margins vary. Question wording and order, along with weighting to match demographic benchmarks, can affect results.
