Donald Trump support drops as neutral voters threaten US democracy

New polling shows former President Donald Trump’s base has shrunk dramatically. A Washington Post‑Ipsos survey found only 15% of Americans give him a strong approval rating, the lowest ever recorded in the series, with just 41% of Republicans and 43% of Trump voters in 2024 offering full support. The share of supporters who rate him only “partially” positive has risen to 22%.

A separate academic study published in *Nature Human Behaviour* highlights another democratic risk: a large group of “neutral” voters who neither endorse nor oppose anti‑democratic actions. The authors argue that these neutrals behave like explicit anti‑democratic supporters at the ballot box, giving elected officials greater leeway to undermine democratic norms. The study notes that 77 million Americans voted for Trump in 2024, underscoring the scale of the political environment in which these neutral voters operate.