Trump's Approval Hits Rock Bottom

The subpoenas for the phone records of FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles occurred in 2022 and 2023. At the time, both were private citizens. The records were obtained as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI obtained "toll records," which show the timing and recipients of calls but not the conversations' content. Such records can be acquired via subpoena without a judge's approval. Patel has since ended the FBI's practice of categorizing files as "Prohibited," a designation he claims was used to bury the subpoenas and evade oversight. Following the disclosure of the subpoenas, at least 10 FBI employees connected to the investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents have been fired. Patel, who was interviewed by investigators as part of the probe, has characterized the seizure of his records as "outrageous and deeply alarming." Trump's 1 hour and 47-minute State of the Union address is the longest in modern history, surpassing Bill Clinton's roughly 90-minute speech in 2000. For historical context on presidential approval, the highest recorded rating was George W. Bush's 90% after the 9/11 attacks, while the lowest was Harry S. Truman's 22% in 1952. The Democratic special election victories include a 47-point landslide in a Kentucky State Senate race, where the Democrat overperformed the 2024 presidential ticket by 42 points. In Iowa, a Democrat won a state Senate seat by 43 points in a district that the 2024 ticket won by only 17. This trend of Democratic overperformance has been consistent. In a Louisiana state House district that Trump won by 13 points in 2024, a Democrat won with 62% of the vote. Across 60 special elections in 2025, Democrats saw an average swing of 13% in their favor compared to 2024 results.