Trump approval 19% among 18-29 voters

President Donald Trump’s standing with young voters fell to 19% approval in a New York Times/Siena poll released on May 18, with 76% of voters ages 18 to 29 saying they disapproved of his job performance. The survey was conducted May 11-15 among 1,507 registered voters. The same poll put Trump’s overall approval rating at 37% and disapproval at 59%, his lowest approval rating in any Times/Siena survey of either term. ### How unusual is 19% approval with voters ages 18 to 29? The 19%-76% split among 18-to-29-year-olds was one of the starkest subgroup findings in the poll. The New York Times/Siena results, as summarized in contemporaneous coverage, also showed young voters breaking 62%-26% for the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate on the generic congressional ballot. (occidentaldissent.com) TIME reported that the poll showed 76% of voters ages 18-29 disapproved of Trump’s job performance, grouping young voters with independents and Hispanic respondents as blocs showing pronounced erosion. TIME said Trump had won 39% of the 18-29 vote in the 2024 election, making the current reading a notable deterioration from that benchmark. (occidentaldissent.com) ### What exactly did the Times/Siena poll measure? The May 11-15 Times/Siena survey questioned 1,507 registered voters nationwide. Forbes, citing the poll, reported a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points for the full sample. The topline finding was 37% approval and 59% disapproval overall. The Siena Research Institute’s New York Times partnership pages show the poll was part of its continuing national survey work with the newspaper. (time.com) Siena’s January 22, 2026 national poll had found Trump at 40% approval and 56% disapproval overall, giving a recent point of comparison inside the same polling series. (forbes.com) ### Is this only a youth-voter problem, or part of a broader slide? Reuters/Ipsos found Trump at 36% approval and 63% disapproval in a May 8-11 poll of 1,254 U.S. adults. Ipsos said the survey used its probability-based KnowledgePanel, with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points for all respondents. CBS News/YouGov found Trump at 37% approval and 63% disapproval in a May 13-15 poll of 2,064 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. (sri.siena.edu) Those national numbers closely matched the Times/Siena topline, even though the surveys used different samples and field dates. (realclearpolitics.com) A Financial Times poll conducted May 1-5 found 53% of respondents had an unfavorable view of Trump and 41% had a favorable view, while 51% disapproved of his handling of jobs and the economy. That was a favorability measure rather than a straight job-approval question, but it pointed in the same direction. ### What issues were weighing on Trump in these polls? (assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com) The Times/Siena poll found Trump underwater on several major issues, according to reports summarizing the survey. Forbes said voters gave him negative ratings on immigration, the economy, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the war in Iran and the cost of living. Nearly half of respondents, 49%, rated the economy as poor. (forbes.com) TIME reported that the poll landed as Americans were growing more worried about inflation and the Iran war. Reuters/Ipsos separately found 64% of Americans said recent gas-price increases had affected their household finances, and 83% expected gas prices to continue rising in the next month. ### What should readers watch next? The next test will be whether later May and June polling shows the same gap with younger voters. (forbes.com) Reuters/Ipsos, CBS News/YouGov and the New York Times/Siena series have all published fresh national polling in May, and any new cross-tabs will show whether Trump’s 19% approval among 18-to-29-year-olds was an outlier or part of a sustained pattern. (realclearpolitics.com) (time.com)