The YouGov/Economist poll found Democrats’ sentiment toward the president is even stronger than Republicans’, with 83% of Democrats saying they strongly disapprove of him. Among his Republican supporters, a little over half describe their approval in similarly passionate terms, with 54% saying they strongly approve of his performance.

That’s a shift from earlier in Trump’s second term, according to an Aug. 22 YouGov analysis of the data.

In January ,a majority still said they had a strong opinion about Trump, with 69% either strongly approving or disapproving. But unlike the most recent poll, 36% of Americans strongly disapproved of Trump at the time, and 34% strongly approved.

The poll surveyed 1,568 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points. Overall approval ratings put the president at a 40% approval and 56% disapproval mark.

Aggregations of recent approval polling from The New York Times and RealClearPolitics place Trump’s approval between 44% and 45%, respectively, with disapproval rates of 53% and 50%, as of Aug. 24.

A historical analysis and average by Gallup shows Trump’s approval ratings in the first July of both of his terms are lower than those of any other modern president. In comparison, former President Joe Biden had a 50% average approval rating in July 2021, while former President Barack Obama’s first and second-term July approval ratings were 57% and 46%, respectively. Gallup’s analysis puts Trump’s second-term average to date at 42%.

Trump, 79, Spotted With New Bruise on His Other Hand

A new bruise has appeared on President Donald Trump’s left hand, adding to the one he’s had on his right hand for months, amid mounting questions about his health.

The 79-year-old president hit the links with former Major League Baseball player Roger Clemens and his son Kacy at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia on Saturday. The fresh mark was spotted in a video Kacy posted to Instagram on Sunday, titled “A Day on the Course with The President.”

At one point, as the camera pans to Trump overlooking his course, the back of his left hand comes into view, showing a dark discoloration nearly identical in placement to the one on his right hand.

Videos and photos can sometimes be mirrored, but here it’s clearly his left hand, since the “TRUMP” logo on the back of Trump’s hat is correctly oriented.

When reached for comment, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not deny the existence of a new bruise.

“President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history. His commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day,” Leavitt told the Daily Beast in a statement.

As has become usual, Trump’s other hand was coated in makeup, presumably to conceal bruising, during Saturday’s golf outing, which also included the club’s Director of Golf, John O’Leary.

According to a game scorecard shared by Roger, Trump finished fourth out of four.

Leavitt first attributed the discoloration to the president (who is right-handed) “shaking hands all day every day” back when the bruising was first spotted in February.

Later, Trump’s physician, Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, expanded on the explanation, saying that the bruising “is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.”

Barbabella’s elaboration came the same week the White House announced that Trump had been diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI) after undergoing an examination due to having swollen legs. The condition, which is common in people over the age of 70, occurs when damaged veins slow blood flow back to the heart.

The commander-in-chief’s cankles have made frequent appearances since the diagnosis, most visibly at the recent Alaska summit, where his legs looked noticeably larger than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s.

Leavitt has previously said she would “look into” making a White House physician available to answer questions about the president’s health, though there’s been no follow-through so far.

Meanwhile, Trump—the oldest president yet to be inaugurated—has not addressed questions about his health himself. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, he attempted to cover up his right hand with some awkward manual gymnastics.

 

 

Trump, 79, Melts Down at Being Challenged to a Walk by Dem, 46

President Donald Trump said Friday that Chicago will be the next city that his administration targets for a federal crackdown on crime and suggested a longer and more intense campaign in the nation’s capital.

“We’ll straighten that one out, probably next, that will be our next one after this,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “I think Chicago will be our next and then we’ll help with New York.”

The president has credited his federal takeover of Washington, DC’s police force and deployment of the National Guard there with driving down crime in the city — touting a weeklong stretch without any murders as a “miracle” despite the fact that such weeks have occurred in DC multiple times so far this year.

He said he could keep National Guard members in the city “as long as I want” by declaring a national emergency, a prospect likely to unnerve city residents. More than 1,900 National Guard troops from multiple states — including DC, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Louisiana and Tennessee guards — have been mobilized in DC as of Thursday, according to Joint Task Force-DC.

Trump also took aim at DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and threatened to do more than just seize control of the police force if she didn’t “get her act straight.”

“I’m tired of listening to these people say how safe it was before we got here. It was unsafe. It was horrible. And Mayor Bowser better get her act straight, or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government running like it’s supposed to be run,” Trump said.

Trump dismissed polling that showed most city residents disapprove of the deployment of federal troops, calling it “fake news” and claiming that residents of Chicago and cities are clamoring for a similar law enforcement crackdown where they live.

“They’re wearing red hats, African American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘Please, President Trump, come to Chicago,’” Trump said.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement: “We take President Trump’s statements seriously, but to be clear the City has not received any formal communication from the Trump administration regarding additional federal law enforcement or military deployments to Chicago.” He said homicides, robberies and shootings have dropped significantly in the past year.

“Certainly, we have grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to the City of Chicago,” he said. “The problem with the President’s approach is that it is uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound. Unlawfully deploying the National Guard to Chicago has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement when we know that trust between police and residents is foundational to building safer communities.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on X that Trump had used Los Angeles and Washington, DC, as “his testing ground for authoritarian overreach” and he was now trying “to incite fear in our communities and destabilize existing public safety efforts — all to create a justification to further abuse his power.”

For his part, Trump attacked Johnson as “incompetent,” claiming the city has grown dangerous on his watch and vowing to use the federal government to intervene.

“When we’re ready, we’ll go in and we’ll straighten out Chicago just like we did DC,” he said.

A member of the US National Guard walks past military vehicles on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on August 14.

Alex Wroblewski/AFP/Getty Images

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It was not immediately clear how a federal crackdown in Chicago would work and how closely it would resemble what has happened in DC. The district is not a part of any state and has restrictions on its ability to govern its own affairs, so the president has the ability to effectively federalize its police force.

In his comments Friday, Trump seemed to conflate keeping the National Guard deployed in DC with his takeover of the local police department. He said he could subvert a provision under the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act, which says the federal government can seize control of the city’s police force for up to 30 days during emergencies. After that, he would need congressional approval to continue controlling the Metropolitan Police Department.

In a hearing last week, Justice Department attorneys told a federal judge that unless Congress extended Trump’s ability to effectively control Washington, DC’s police department, Trump’s order would expire.

But Trump, who pledged to eliminate crime when he deployed federal law enforcement earlier this month, has now suggested on multiple occasions that he’ll need to maintain his influence over the city’s policing for far longer to cut down on crime long-term.

“It’s one thing to get them out, it’s another thing to keep them out for a long period of time,” Trump said. “That’s going to take more than 30 days.”

The president also said he’s already talked with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune about a planned request for $2 billion to funnel toward beautifying DC. He said that would be “very easy to get.”

As CNN’s Daniel Dale has reported, violent crime in DC declined in 2024 and 2025 after a spike in 2023. The Justice Department is investigating whether the DC Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime dated.

America’s next big showdown is brewing over Donald Trump’s zeal to impose unusual presidential power as he eyes big, Democratic-run cities to expand a crime crackdown that sent troops flocking onto the streets of Washington, DC.

Trump’s torrid rhetoric claiming that crime is out of control, which is often misleading, is a classic page from the playbook of strongman leaders. It could precipitate high tensions between the federal government and states over the limits of his constitutional and legal authority.

The president’s threats prompted alarmed Democrats on Sunday to warn that there would be no justification for him to dispatch troops to a city such as Chicago over local opposition.

“We should continue to support local law enforcement and not simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he’s deeply unpopular,” House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

On Friday, Trump told reporters that “Chicago will be our next” target while he would “help” New York after that. Trump last week also name-checked Baltimore and Oakland, California, where he argued crime is “very bad.”

CNN reported Saturday that the Trump administration has been planning for weeks to send the National Guard to Chicago, according to two officials. It is not yet clear how many troops would be sent to Chicago, or when those deployments would start.

Trump on Sunday lashed out at Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a potential Democratic presidential hopeful in 2028, who had suggested the president walk with him through Baltimore to view local attempts to stem violent crime. The president slammed the city as “out of control (and) crime ridden” and said he wouldn’t go there until the “Crime Disaster” was cleaned up.

Trump’s critics argue his deployment of National Guard forces in the US capital and in Los Angeles in response to demonstrations earlier this year against his immigration policies are prototype operations for wider national crackdowns.

But the president has smaller legal leeway to surge federal troops into cities and to dictate law enforcement policies in the states than in Washington, a federal district.

The consequences are huge if Trump turns from Washington to other big cities

Sending troops or dedicating federal agents to police work into a major city such as Chicago or Baltimore against the will of Democratic state and city officials would create a new test of the presidential powers Trump incessantly seeks to expand and would threaten state sovereignty — which Republicans have historically sought to preserve.

Declaring yet another national emergency to federalize National Guard reserve troops normally commanded by a state governor would trigger legal showdowns over Trump’s preferred method of unlocking new and questionable executive authority. He suggested last week he might declare a national emergency in Washington, to get around a 30-day limit on troop deployments.

Members of the National Guard walk through the National Mall on Saturday in Washington, DC.

Jose Luis Gonzalez/Retuers

A crackdown in a place like Chicago would also offer Trump the chance to ramp up his mass deportation effort with a surge force at a time when it is increasingly appearing that this is his key goal in Washington. A CNN analysis of government data found that in the first week after the administration took control of the capital’s police force and deployed federal agents and troops on the streets, there was a moderate dip in reported crime while arrests of immigrants were up tenfold from typical ICE arrest tallies.

D.C. police chief remains in command under deal with Trump administration

Choosing a big, Democratic city would also allow Trump to choreograph a new political extravaganza in a performative presidency built on televised spectacles from summits to bill signings and dealmaking. The substance often lags the political symbolism.

The risk would be that such moves could disrupt chains of command between local elected officials and police chiefs and upset community policing initiatives designed to stem violent crime. And it would reinforce a growing impression that Trump is seeking to normalize the anomalous use of soldiers in domestic settings to purse his political priorities.

As was the case in Washington, a Chicago crackdown would give Trump another opening to impose his conservative power and autocratic tendencies on a population that voted overwhelmingly for his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in 2024.

And it would enable him to put Democrats in a political vise, forcing them to walk a tightrope between rejecting federal takeovers and his hardline tactics while risking alienating voters who are concerned about violent crime and the impact of past lax border policies.

Then there is the question of paying for all this.

Trump’s growing zeal for using federal troops and agents will sooner or later raise the question of resources. Prolonged National Guard deployments are expensive. Redeploying federal agents from other duties could affect the FBI’s ability to target transnational crime or anti-terrorism investigations. The resource issue raises questions about the administration’s capacity to enact long-term reductions in crime since open-ended deployments are unsustainable.

Democrats push back as Trump depicts dystopian crime crisis

Trump’s warnings about supposedly lawless inner cities do not necessarily reflect the true picture of public order. For example, crime in Washington fell in 2024, and again so far this year. In Chicago, the police said Friday that homicides were down 31% this year, and shootings fell 36%. Still, that doesn’t mean people who live in big cities feel safe. Many would welcome seeing more police on the streets, and cities and states have been calling on the federal government for more partnerships and resources — but balk at Trump’s imposed solutions.

The president’s dystopian descriptions increasingly resemble an attempt to create a rhetorical crime emergency that he could then use to justify draconian methods that satisfy his desire to look strong and his attempts to push up deportations.

As Trump stokes a sense of crisis, Democrats are resisting

People walk past Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago on March 7.

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel told Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday, “I think everybody should take a step back and realize that, as a commander in chief over his two terms, he’s only deployed and put boots on the ground in American cities, never overseas. And just think about what that means as a country.”

Emmanuel, a CNN senior political and global affairs commentator, suggested that Trump’s true purpose was to redouble immigration enforcement in cities — like Chicago — that do not cooperate with federal authorities in crackdowns against undocumented migrants. “This will not be about fighting crime,” he said.

And Emmanuel, a former senior member of Democratic House leadership, White House chief of staff and ambassador to Japan, offered some advice for his party, which has sometimes struggled to connect with voters on crime. “We have a strategy for fighting crime: more police on the beat and getting kids, gangs and guns off the street.”

Jeffries, from New York, said on “State of the Union” that Democrats, like all Americans, want safer communities, but opposed Trump’s power grabs. “We should make sure that the flood of guns into these communities is cut off. We should make sure that we’re dealing with the mental health crisis that exists all across the United States of America, and, by the way, which Donald Trump is exacerbating by cutting funds to actually help people who are dealing with emotional distress.”

Democratic local leaders are trying to discredit the president’s claim that crime is so out of control in cities as to merit such a crackdown.

On Saturday, JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, issued a statement pointing out that his state had received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking whether it needs help, after Trump named Chicago as a future venue for his surge of military and federal personnel. “There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active-duty military within our own borders,” he said.

And Pritzker signaled that he’d do everything he could to push back against outside, federal power. “We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois,” he said.

On Sunday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told CNN’s Isabel Rosales that his office sought to work with federal entities including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Secret Service. He said those agencies were trained to combat crime, while the National Guard is not.

Trump is “operating as a dictator,” Raoul said. “Turning the military against these American citizens in cities on American land is unprecedented.”