“Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly,” said President Donald Trump in a message posted to Truth Social on Christmas Eve.
As he sent out the message, multiple polling aggregates showed that the president’s approval rating was trending down.
In the Truth Social post, Trump touted his administration’s work on immigration, “Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone,” and “Weak Law Enforcement,” as well as the economy. He said the nation has “a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected.”
However, the comments come also after multiple polls have showed that much of the American public is stressed about finances and has a negative view of the economy. This month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revealed that inflation did tick up slightly in November and over the 12-month period ending in November. Earlier this year, Audacy reported on employment claims reaching a four-year high.
To end his Christmas message, Trump said that “Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before.”
Trump’s approach to tariffs has been controversial. Beyond economic issues, immigration, and national security, the president and his administration has been subject to criticism regarding the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender and financier with connections to the rich and famous, including Trump himself.
Earlier this year, administration officials indicated that no new information in the case would be released, resulting in backlash. Since then, lawmakers have pushed and the Department of Justice began releasing files this week, though Audacy noted that they were heavily redacted.
CNN reported that Trump’s name appeared in one of the latest file drops, though it said that “authorities have not accused Trump of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein.” In a Dec. 23 X post, the Justice Department said: “Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
YouGov poll results released this week showed that majorities of Democrats and Republicans support the federal government releasing all of the files on Epstein. Furthermore, the results showed that 55% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the Epstein investigations. While Republicans were more likely to approve, under half (46%) of MAGA Republicans – typically Trump’s strongest supporters – said they strongly approve of how he’s handled the situation.
According CNN, the DOJ has also “asked career prosecutors in Florida to volunteer,” to help redact the files. Following the file drops, people online quickly began discussing ways to get through the redactions using PDFs, as noted by Davey Winder writing for Forbes.
“The shocking truth is that it was ridiculously easy, employing straightforward methods that have been known for years,” he said. “That the DOJ was seemingly unaware of the PDF bugs that have been exploited to do this is concerning from a national security viewpoint at the very least.”
This is the landscape in which RealClearPolitics, The Economist and CNN showed Trump’s approval rating trending down around Christmas. As of Dec. 25, RealClearPolitics estimated his approval rating at 43.1% (down from 43.5% on Dec. 21), The Economist’s estimate was at 38% (down 2.5 points compared to the previous week) and CNN also estimated the approval rating at 38%.
Donald Trump’s approval rating reflects his rollercoaster year. He re-entered the Oval Office in January with a net approval rating of 2,” said The Economist. “But then it began a bumpy ride down to -18 in early December. It then climbed for a couple of weeks, but just as it was gaining height it plunged to -17 just before Christmas.”