As President Donald Trump prepares to address Americans on the results of his first year back in office, a majority of Americans say he has made the country worse off.
That’s according to a February poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, conducted in partnership with PBS and NPR, which showed that 60% of Americans surveyed said the country was worse off than a year ago, and 55% said Trump was changing the country for the worse.
That’s more than 10 points higher than in the group’s 2018 poll, a year into Trump’s first term, when just 42% said he was moving the country in a worse direction.
The poll surveyed 1,462 Americans in late January, including 1,326 registered voters. Of those, 34% said they were registered as Democratic, 33% as independent, and 32% as Republican.
Views on Trump’s performance differed sharply by party, with 89% of Democrats responding that he was changing the country for the worse, while just 13% of Republicans said the same. A majority of independent voters said Trump was making the country worse, at 64%.
The results could spell trouble for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections, typically seen as a referendum on the president’s performance in office.
Historically, the party that controls the White House loses seats in the midterm, but some observers believe the losses could be heavier than usual this year due to the president’s low approval rating.
Meanwhile, Democrats are increasingly targeting redder congressional territory, including NC-11, where incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) last won by 56% to 43%.
Pessimism over Trump’s leadership has steadily risen across the three Marist polls since his return to office, with 48% saying Trump was changing the country for the worse in March 2025, and 51% saying the same in April 2025.
Key elements of concern over the country for respondents centered on democracy and the functioning of the government. Majorities of Republicans and Democrats — and 78% of voters overall — said they agreed there is a “serious threat to the future of our democracy.” And 68% of voters surveyed said they disagree that the system of checks and balances between the President, Congress and the courts is working well.
Respondents also signaled unhappiness over the president’s policies amid widespread backlash to his administration’s immigration crackdown and continued tariff war. More than half of respondents said Trump’s policies negatively impacted them personally, including 58% of independents.
That culminates in a majority of those surveyed reporting that the state of the union is not strong — including 79% of Democrats, 68% of independents, and 23% of Republicans.
Trump will seek to rebut those sentiments when he heads to the U.S. Capitol at 9 p.m. on Tuesday to deliver his annual State of the Union address.
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