{"id":2520842,"date":"2025-12-13T11:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T16:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-slows-bleeding-of-independent-voters-white-house-report-card\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T11:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T16:13:13","slug":"trump-slows-bleeding-of-independent-voters-white-house-report-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-slows-bleeding-of-independent-voters-white-house-report-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump slows bleeding of independent voters: White House Report Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-slows-bleeding-of-independent-voters-white-house-report-card%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2520842&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article titled &#8220;Trump slows bleeding of independent voters: White House Report Card&#8221; discusses how President Donald Trump has begun to stabilize his support among independent voters by focusing on issues of affordability. Despite this, he remains significantly underwater with independents, who primarily cite concerns about the economy, war, and taxes.Polls reveal that Trump&#8217;s disapproval rating among independents is roughly double his approval rating, indicating a challenging path ahead for securing their votes in the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mikie-sherrill-defeats-house-colleague-four-others-in-new-jersey-primary\/\" title=\"Mikie Sherrill defeats House colleague, four others in New Jersey primary\">2026 congressional midterm elections<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Pollsters note a modest recovery in Trump&#8217;s approval following improvements in gas prices and the overall holiday sentiment. Though, independents remain skeptical, with some emphasizing that Trump needs to go beyond blaming former President Joe Biden and address rising prices and economic challenges more directly. <\/p>\n<p>Analysts grade Trump&#8217;s current standing variably, with Jeremy Zogby giving him a &#8220;D,&#8221; highlighting the persistent disapproval among independents and the fact that Trump won the 2024 election largely without their support. Jed Babbin offers a somewhat more favorable &#8220;B-&#8221; grade, acknowledging Trump&#8217;s late focus on affordability but criticizing his handling of foreign affairs, chip exports to China, and diplomatic tone toward Europe.<\/p>\n<p>while Trump retains strong support within his Republican base,winning back independent voters requires concrete policies addressing inflation,taxes,and economic concerns. The article suggests that although the situation is difficult, &#8220;all is not lost&#8221; for Trump&#8217;s efforts to regain this key demographic.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump slows bleeding of independent voters: White House Report Card<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2427256\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> has stanched the bleeding of independent voters with his new focus on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3914700\/republicans-hasnt-coalesced-unified-message-affordability-sarah-bedford\/\">affordability,<\/a> but has a long way to go winning them back in time to help the GOP&rsquo;s chances in the 2026 congressional midterm elections, our weekly White House Report Card finds.<\/p>\n<p>Three pollsters told <em>Washington Secrets<\/em> this week that the president is <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3902673\/independence-chosen-new-voter-registrations\/\">underwater<\/a> with independent voters, who mostly cite the economy, war and taxes as their issues of concern. Overall, his disapproval rating is about twice that of his approval rating among independents.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3916110\/liberal-2024-autopsy-harris-campaign-committed-suicide\/\">Liberal 2024 &lsquo;autopsy&rsquo;: Harris campaign committed suicide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3913197\/october-7-off-broadway-play-kennedy-center\/\">Historic shift as &lsquo;barbarians&rsquo; take Kennedy Center center stage<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3911825\/democrats-independents-want-hegseth-impeached-boat-strike-poll\/\">Double tap: Democrats and independents want Hegseth impeached and removed<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Generally, however, he has bounced up from his approval lows, and pollster and grader Jeremy Zogby suggested that &ldquo;all is not lost.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3909504\/trump-given-week-of-wins-and-fake-scandal-white-house-report-card\/\">TRUMP GIVEN WEEK OF WINS AND FAKE SCANDAL: WHITE HOUSE REPORT CARD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s new affordability kick is credited with helping him begin to recover among independent voters. Improvements in gas prices and the general Christmas spirit have also helped, said the pollsters.<\/p>\n<p>Zogby has been closely monitoring the president&rsquo;s support among independent voters and currently has him at a 31% approval to 66% disapproval. He noted in his grade below that former Vice President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3916110\/liberal-2024-autopsy-harris-campaign-committed-suicide\/\">Kamala Harris<\/a> won the independent vote in 2024 by three points.<\/p>\n<p>Cygnal founder and pollster Brent Buchanan&rsquo;s numbers echoed Zogby&rsquo;s, and he told <em>Secrets<\/em> that they are better than a month before. &ldquo;Trump turned around a lot of groups in the last month. I credit it to him talking more about affordability issues though there is room for improvement on empathy and message discipline,&rdquo; said Buchanan.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">16% of voters say Trump is focused more on domestic affairs over foreign affairs.<\/p>\n<p>46% say Trump should be focused more on domestic affairs &ndash; a 30pt delta.<\/p>\n<p>While the new Monroe Doctrine is smart, the messaging focus needs to be on stateside policies.<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8IdERG0WP0\">https:\/\/t.co\/8IdERG0WP0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brent Buchanan, Pollster (@brentbuc) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brentbuc\/status\/1999527919958524189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p>Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell said that Trump has bounced off his lows but suggested waiting until after Christmas to size up his support.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative grader Jed Babbin said that it&rsquo;s good for Trump to be <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >addressing affordability finally<\/a>, but that voters want him to do something about high prices and not just blame former President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3425847\/trump-pardons-and-commutations-second-term-clemency\/\">TRUMP PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS: NOTABLE ACTS OF CLEMENCY IN HIS SECOND TERM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeremy Zogby<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Grade: D<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>The new John Zogby Strategies interactive poll of 1,000 likely voters conducted Dec. 5 to 7 has President Donald Trump&rsquo;s approval-disapproval rating at 46%-52%.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The president holds his MAGA base with an 86% approval rating among <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republicans\/\">Republicans<\/a>, while 13% disapprove. On the other hand, 83% of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a> disapprove, and 14% approve of the president&rsquo;s job.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We&rsquo;ve consistently highlighted Trump&rsquo;s collapse in approval among independent voters, but what we now see is a sustained trend. Our poll reports 66% of unaffiliated voters disapprove of Trump&rsquo;s job in the White House, versus just a 31% approval rating.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>What it all means:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Trump won the 2024 election without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/choosing-a-lane-how-independent-voters-could-affect-a-desantis-presidential-campaign\/\" title=\"Choosing a lane: How ... could affect a DeSantis ...ial campaign\">winning independent voters<\/a> (former Vice President Kamala Harris won them +3).<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Outlook 2026 &amp; Is the President Bleeding Independents?\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rjv_VtndQo4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><i>It was Trump&rsquo;s expanded coalition, including first-time voters, Hispanics, under-age-30 voters, and more, who all by and large moved to his camp.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>But today, independents two-to-one do not have confidence in Trump&rsquo;s job performance.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>While the president manages to execute his rapidly unfolding agenda and hold his Republican base, he is 35 points underwater with independent voters.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Independent voters need something more concrete, primarily with regard to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/inflation\/\">inflation<\/a>, war, and taxes. That&rsquo;s the only recipe to get them back. All is not lost.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jed Babbin<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Grade: B-<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>This wasn&rsquo;t a great week for President Donald Trump and his team because the word of the week was &ldquo;affordability,&rdquo; the lack of it being the cause du jour for his Democratic critics. They blamed Trump for the lack of it on everything from <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/food\/\">food<\/a> to housing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Meanwhile, Trump agreed to send highly advanced NVIDIA chips to China, said that Ukraine was losing its defensive war against Russia and also said that European leaders were very weak, which is certainly true.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The &ldquo;affordability&rdquo; issue arises at a bad time for Trump. It&rsquo;s clear that prices are very high but seem to be coming down. One example is <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gas-prices\/\">gasoline<\/a>, which was less than $3 per gallon when I filled a tank on Friday. The bad timing is because people are tired of Trump blaming former President Joe Biden for everything and want him to take responsibility.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Europeans are in a snit (which is permanently the case for the French) over Trump&rsquo;s language about them and about &ldquo;civilizational erasure,&rdquo; a line in the National Security Strategy. It&rsquo;s about the Eunuchs failing to defend themselves from everything, including Russia and immigration. Calling them weak is manifestly true, but not great diplomacy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The NVIDIA chips, made in Taiwan for a U.S. company, are almost &mdash; but not quite &mdash; being sent to China. They are subject to an odd new security review. If they are sent to China, it will be a very bad decision by Trump &amp; Co.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\">SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeremy Zogby<\/strong> is the managing partner at <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/johnzogbystrategies.com\/\">John Zogby Strategies.<\/a> His podcast with father and senior partner and pollster John Zogby <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/johnzogbystrategies.com\/the-zogby-report\/\">can be heard here.<\/a> Follow them on X <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/zogbystrategies\">@ZogbyStrategies<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jed Babbin<\/strong> is a <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jedbabbin\">@jedbabbin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump slows loss of independents but must do more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2647,"featured_media":2520843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25347023709777.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[42540,5894,33296,3634,32127],"class_list":["post-2520842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-independent-voters","tag-politics","tag-report-card","tag-trump","tag-white-house"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25347023709777.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2520842"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2520846,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520842\/revisions\/2520846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2520843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2520842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2520842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2520842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}