Donald Trump approval rating by state: August 2026 numbers reveal a sharply divided political map

Donald Trump’s approval map has a striking feature that becomes easy to miss when looking at 50 separate state numbers: some of his biggest approval ratings are coming from places where Republicans need the least political help.

Trump reaches 59% approval in both Wyoming and North Dakota, according to the August 2026 Civiqs-based state figures. But move into the states that have decided some of America’s closest recent elections, and the picture changes dramatically. Pennsylvania puts Trump at 39%. Michigan has him at 38%. Georgia drops to 37%.

With the November midterm elections approaching, that gap could matter far more than any single national approval rating.

Trump’s safest states are still firmly behind him

There is little evidence in these numbers that Trump’s conservative heartland has suddenly abandoned him.

Wyoming and North Dakota lead the country at 59%. West Virginia follows at 55%, Alabama sits at 53%, and Idaho, Oklahoma and South Dakota each give the president 52% approval. Arkansas stands at 51%.

Kansas, Montana and Tennessee come in at exactly 50%.

These are strong numbers, and they reinforce Trump’s continuing strength across some of the country’s most Republican territory. Yet they also reveal the unusual shape of his political support.

Only 11 states in the August data give Trump an approval rating of at least 50%.

That means most of the country falls below majority approval, including several states that Republicans have increasingly treated as dependable territory.

Texas, for example, places Trump at 41%. Florida has him at 43%. Iowa and Ohio also sit at 41%.

Those states are not suddenly blue. But their numbers suggest that voting Republican and approving of Trump’s job performance are no longer necessarily the same thing.

The real warning signs are hiding in the battlegrounds

If Republicans are searching this map for trouble, Wyoming is probably the wrong place to look.

The more revealing numbers stretch through Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the seven major battleground states Trump carried in the 2024 presidential election.

Trump’s approval reaches 43% in Arizona, his best showing among that group. North Carolina and Wisconsin are both at 41%.

Then the numbers fall further.

Pennsylvania sits at 39%, Michigan and Nevada at 38%, and Georgia at just 37%.

Not one of those seven states gives Trump majority approval.

That does not mean each state would reject Trump in another presidential election, nor does it automatically predict Democratic victories in November. Approval polling asks voters how they feel about the president’s current performance. Midterm elections ask them to choose among specific candidates for Congress and other offices.

But there is a political difference between campaigning alongside a president with majority approval and campaigning with one whose approval sits in the upper 30s.

Republican candidates in competitive territory may increasingly have to prove they can keep Trump’s supporters energized without making every race a referendum on the White House.

Georgia may be the number that gets the most attention

Georgia’s 37% approval rating deserves particular attention because the state has spent years sitting near the center of America’s political battlefield.

It has produced closely watched presidential and Senate races, enormous campaign spending and some of the country’s most aggressive turnout operations.

At 37%, Trump’s approval there is 22 points lower than his 59% showing in Wyoming and North Dakota.

That contrast captures the central challenge buried inside the map.

Winning overwhelming loyalty in already-safe Republican states is valuable for maintaining a political base. But midterm control of Congress can hinge on voters in suburbs and competitive districts where support for the president is considerably softer.

Pennsylvania’s 39% and Michigan’s 38% tell a similar story.

National polling adds pressure to the state numbers

The state map is not appearing in isolation.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published August 3 put Trump’s national approval at 35%. The same survey found registered voters favoring Democrats over Republicans by 42% to 37% when asked which party they would support in a congressional election.

Perhaps more strikingly, Democrats held a narrow 37% to 36% advantage when respondents were asked which party they trusted more to manage the economy. Reuters reported that it marked the first Democratic advantage on that question in nearly a decade.

That is potentially important because economic confidence has long been one of the strongest arguments Republicans use when trying to reach voters beyond their core base.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey also pointed to rising energy costs as part of the public’s economic anxiety, with gasoline prices reportedly climbing more than 25% since the Iran war began in February.

For voters, foreign policy, gasoline prices and household budgets can quickly become part of the same political judgment.

At the other end of the map, Trump falls below 30%

The polarization becomes even more obvious when the lowest-ranking states enter the picture.

Hawaii gives Trump just 19% approval. Vermont follows at 20%, Maryland at 22%, Massachusetts at 26% and California at 27%.

Oregon and Washington both stand at 28%, while Connecticut and Rhode Island register 29%.

The distance between Trump’s strongest and weakest states is enormous. His 59% approval in Wyoming and North Dakota is 40 percentage points higher than his 19% showing in Hawaii.

This is not simply a president with a national approval problem. It is a president governing an electorate whose views change dramatically depending on where the state line is drawn.

November will test whether approval becomes action

There is one major caution hidden behind every poll: voters do not cast ballots for approval ratings.

Someone can disapprove of Trump and still vote for a Republican senator or House candidate. Others can dislike both parties and stay home. Democrats can also fail to capitalize on Republican dissatisfaction if their own candidates struggle to persuade voters.

But the clock is moving quickly.

The regularly scheduled federal general election falls on November 3, 2026, according to the Federal Election Commission. That leaves Republicans trying to defend their congressional position while Trump’s strongest approval numbers remain concentrated mainly in states where the party already enjoys substantial advantages.

The August map therefore tells two stories at once. Trump still commands deep support across much of conservative America, and there is little indication that his political base has disappeared.

Yet the states most likely to shape the next chapter of American politics look very different.

The question heading toward November is not whether Wyoming still likes Donald Trump. It is whether voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and other competitive territory will allow their feelings about his presidency to follow them into the voting booth.