President Donald Trump has seen a drop in his approval rating in Daily Mail polling for the first time as he reaches 100 days of his second administration, with voters worried about how tariffs will impact their wallets.

The president’s approval in the Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll fell nine points from 54 percent on April 17 – when his popularity was at a record high – to 45 percent this week.

The decline is universal with voters increasingly concerned by issues that were critical to Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential election: rising prices and the economy.

Six in ten say the economy is bad or getting worse, including 49 percent of Republicans. Many believe food, and their favorite products, are getting more expensive.

‘He is pushing things like tariffs that will hurt us economically in the future,’ one male GOP voter from California, who backed Trump in 2024, told the survey. 

However, Trump still has strong support from his loyal base with more than 50 percent approval among men, white Americans and Republicans.

It is the first time since the inauguration voters have indicate their views are becoming more negative, with Trump’s bold tariff policies sparking a furious international response and volatility in the financial markets. 

The president has slammed polls that have his approval rating underwater as ‘fake’ and said on Monday night: ‘We are doing GREAT, better than ever before’.

Trump’s first 100 days in office has been jam-packed with policies that have upended tradition in the federal government.

Elon Musk’s DOGE has taken an axe to government spending in a bid to cut billions from a bloated federal budget.

Almost every day, Trump has been in the Oval Office signing a flurry of executive orders overturning decades of the status quo in Washington. 

He has also sparked diplomatic shockwaves with threats to take over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal, and pulled no punches in his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war with Russia.

When asked to pick his biggest mistake, voters overwhelmingly said ‘tariffs’, while the ‘border’ was seen as the greatest success.

The Trump administration promoted its immigration crackdown on Monday by lining the White House driveway with dozens of mugshots of migrants who have been arrested.

In the poll of 1,006 registered voters conducted between April 23 and April 28, and covering a wide range of topics, disapproval of Trump stood at 55 percent.

The nine-point slip in his approval appears largely due the administration’s tariffs and the ensuing reversal on those economic threats.

Voters seem to have doubts over whether Trump has a plan when it comes to a trade war.

‘Our last poll shocked DC as it showed Trump at his most popular ever after his tariffs announcement. But now, for the first time, we can say the Trump honeymoon period is over,’ J.L. Partners pollster James Johnson told the Daily Mail.

‘The reason for the decline does not seem to be tariffs in and of themselves, but the administration’s changed position on tariffs: whereas before there was a clear story and a sense Trump sticks by his guns, now voters are confused as to what the purpose was,’ he added.

‘That has led to doubt about their savings and the impact on their wallet.’

Trump was elected back into office at a point where Americans repeatedly expressed their discontent with the economy and their own financial situations.

They felt that Trump would help reverse the downfall and pad their pocketbooks after years of inflation, spiking gas prices and an impending recession.

But now, 100 days into his second term, registered voters are starting to show a sense of buyer’s remorse.

More than 40 percent say the first hundred days have been worse than expected compared to 32 percent who say it has been better.

However, Republicans are happy, with six in ten saying the last 14 weeks have exceeded their expectations.

Across all voters, 56 percent said Trump ‘did what he said he would do’, but 59 percent have described his actions as ‘divisive’.

Almost seven in 10 (66 percent) said it showed a Trump they already know, while just 27 percent said his moves have been ‘unifying’.  

‘Tariffs,’ ‘economy’ and ‘market’ were listed as the main words to describe why Americans have soured on Trump recently.

Trump’s lowest approval rating is, unsurprisingly, among Democrats, followed by Hispanic voters.

Voters who took part in the survey said they were worried tariffs will hurt their personal finances. 

They also suggested there was a lack of a plan and a change in position on the controversial trade policies. 

‘All the tariffs that are being put in place. Americans are struggling already without having to pay more for everything they are buying,’ a female Republican from Oklahoma, who voted for Trump in 2024, said.

‘He has tanked the stock market and my retirement savings,’ a female Republican senior from New Jersey said.

Voters also cited other concerns, such as giving ‘too much power’ to Elon Musk and not being ‘totally in tune’ with how he has dealt with Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine war.

‘I can’t tell if he’s doing anything to reduce prices’ a female Trump voter from Mississippi said. ‘They seem a little better, but not great.’

‘Although his policies may be right, the effects of his policies are seriously creating a negative impact to the everyday US citizen and the entire world,’ a Maryland Trump voter said.

‘I feel maybe he may need to rethink and probably slow down and target the main issues in our country first without causing too much harm on our present economy.’ 

Even in the week the Pope Francis died, tariffs still dominated the news agenda, according to voters who were asked to identify the biggest story in the last seven days.

But when the poll respondents were given the chance to sum up Trump in one word, the most-used description was ‘great’.

Voters describing his first 100 days back in office said it was ‘great’ and ‘good’, but also ‘chaotic’.