President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have remained under pressure in national polling as the 2026 midterm campaign enters its final stretch. A newer point of concern for Republicans is the direction of opinion among college-educated voters, a bloc that has become increasingly important in competitive House and Senate races. Recent Economist/YouGov and Reuters/Ipsos surveys show Trump’s broader approval staying near second-term lows while support among college graduates continues to erode.
College-educated voters show a clear downward trend
Trump’s approval among college graduates has now fallen in three straight weekly Economist/YouGov polls, according to YouGov’s published survey materials for late August and early September. The sequence moved from 34% approval in the August 21-24 poll to 31% in the August 28-31 poll and 30% in the September 4-8 poll, while disapproval rose over the same stretch, according to survey summaries and crosstabs released by YouGov.
YouGov’s broader reporting has already identified college graduates as one of Trump’s weakest demographic groups this year. In an August 11 analysis of its weekly poll, YouGov said Trump’s net approval among college graduates had reached a record low for his second term at negative 42. That same report placed his overall job approval at 33%, with 62% disapproving.
The newest weekly poll, published September 9, did not center its written analysis on college graduates, but YouGov stated that full toplines and crosstabs were available for the September 4-8 survey. The overall sample included 1,616 U.S. adult citizens, and YouGov said the margin of error for the full sample was about 3.4%. YouGov has not published a separate margin of error for the college-graduate subgroup in the summary article.
There is no single state named in the polling trend, and neither YouGov nor Reuters has released a state-by-state breakdown tied to this specific college-graduate slide. What is confirmed is that the erosion is showing up in national polling at a time when Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities and when college-educated voters are heavily represented in suburban battleground districts.
Reuters reported on August 31 that Trump’s overall approval was 33% in its latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, the third straight poll at that level. Reuters also reported that 46% of self-identified Democrats described themselves as very enthusiastic about voting in November, compared with 31% of Republicans, and that independents favored Democrats over Republicans by 36% to 22% when asked about a hypothetical congressional vote.
That combination matters because college-educated voters are not an isolated political niche in 2026. They are a sizable share of the electorate in metro counties, university communities and higher-income suburbs that often decide close House contests. The polling does not establish how this group will vote in any one state, and no comprehensive district-level release tied to this exact trend has been made public.
Pollsters and news organizations have been cautious about assigning a single cause to Trump’s softer standing with college graduates, and the surveys themselves do not test one definitive explanation for the recent slide. Reuters said Trump’s broader approval remains weighed down by dissatisfaction over the war in Iran and by negative views of his economic stewardship, especially around the cost of living.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded August 31, 71% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, including four in 10 Republicans, Reuters reported. The same article said only 36% approved of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran. Those issues have coincided with a broader national decline in his standing, not just among college graduates.
For voters and residents, the practical takeaway is that college-educated Americans are emerging as a measurable point of weakness for Trump at a politically sensitive moment. The surveys do not forecast election outcomes on their own, but they do indicate where party strategists are likely to focus attention in the final weeks before the November 3 midterms. As of early September, the publicly released data show Trump’s overall approval stuck near historic lows and his support among college graduates moving lower for a third consecutive poll.