They stood in the rain for him. They wore his hats, waved his flags, and saw in his bluster not arrogance, but a long-awaited defiance. To the forgotten Americans of the industrial heartland and the struggling rural towns, Donald Trump wasn’t just a politician; he was their avenger, poised to smash a system rigged against them. He was their saviour.
But a saviour’s work is demanding. It requires focus, empathy, and a relentless dedication to the flock. And as the chilling data from a new CNN/SSRS survey reveals, the saviour has clocked off. The mask has slipped, revealing a President profoundly indifferent to the people he swore to protect, concerned only with the consolidation of his own power and the comfort of his super-rich peers.
Consider the damning evidence. Donald Trump’s approval rating has collapsed to a mere 37%, a stone’s throw from the historic lows he plumbed in the wake of the January 6th insurrection. A staggering 68% of Americans believe the country is doing “pretty or very badly.” This is the verdict on the Trump salvation project: widespread national despair.
Why the monumental rejection? Because the very people he championed are being crushed by the very economy he claims to have mastered. A staggering 47% of Americans cite the economy and cost of living as the nation’s most pressing issue. And what do they think of Trump’s remedies? A paltry 27% believe his policies have improved economic conditions. In a devastating indictment, 61%—nearly two-thirds of the country—are convinced his actions have made the economy worse.
This is no abstract statistic. This is the sound of factory gates closing in Republican-voting towns laid low by his tariffs. This is the reality of families choosing between groceries and fuel, all while the President marks his anniversary not in a struggling community in Michigan or Pennsylvania, but in the opulent, insulated company of a wealthy business crowd in Miami. The champagne flows in safe spaces, while the base he supposedly champions is left with a poison chalice of rising costs and vanishing jobs.
His response? A wilful, almost contemptuous, disregard for their actual concerns. While nearly half the country loses sleep over putting food on the table, Trump is obsessed with issues they have relegated to the periphery. Only 10% of Americans see immigration as a top concern, yet his administration remains fixated on brutal ICE raids and slashing refugee admissions. A mere 7% prioritise crime, yet he fills the airwaves with fantastical tales of “war-ravaged” cities, a narrative completely detached from the lived experience of most Americans.
This is not leadership; it is a vanity project. It is the behaviour of a man who never saw his supporters as citizens to be served but as an audience to be played. He gave them the theatre of grievance—the rallies, the insults, the culture wars—while his policies actively undermined their economic security. He offered them a performance of strength on the world stage, yet 56% of Americans believe he has hurt the nation’s global standing.
The most terrifying revelation, however, is his thirst for power itself. A majority of Americans, 61%, believe Trump has gone too far in wielding presidential authority. From unauthorised international strikes to neutering independent regulators, his actions sketch the outline of an autocrat, not a public servant. The experts’ warning that he is turning the Department of Justice into his “personal weapon” is the logical endpoint of a presidency that exists not for the people, but for one man.
The coming midterm elections will be the reckoning. With 41% of Americans stating their vote will be an act of opposition to Trump, compared to just 21% in support, the coalition that lifted him to power is fracturing. They are waking up to the great betrayal: their saviour was never in it for them. He was only ever in it for himself, leaving the very people who believed in him to face the economic bedlam he helped create, alone. The man who promised to drain the swamp has instead become its most monstrous and self-serving creature.
