A sweeping new poll seen as a “reliable pre-election barometer” finds majorities of Americans deeply unhappy with the nation’s course and increasingly describing President Donald Trump as a “dangerous dictator.”

“The survey offers a snapshot of the nation’s sour mood just more than a year before the 2026 midterms — and suggests that anger could rewire political alliances and test the durability of Trump’s support,” Axios reported.

PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute, found that six in ten Americans (62%) see the country headed in the wrong direction. That includes strong majorities of Democrats (92%) and independents (71%), as well as nearly one in four Republicans (24%).

On how the president is doing his job, well over half of Americans (56%) disapprove. But nearly nine in ten Republicans (86%) approve, as do 32% of independents, and just 8% of Democrats. Overall, Trump has a 58% unfavorable rating, and a 40% favorable rating.

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The negative perceptions of the president appear to run even deeper.

“A majority of Americans agree ‘President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy’ (56%), up from 52% in March 2025, compared with 41% who agree ‘President Trump is a strong leader who should be given the power he needs to restore America’s greatness.'”

Additionally, PRRI found that most Americans “agree with the statement ‘What President Trump is doing to the federal government is an assault on constitutional checks and balances and the rule of law’ (54%), compared with 43% who agree with the statement ‘What President Trump is doing to the federal government is a long-overdue correction of disastrous policies pushed by elites at the expense of ordinary Americans.'”

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) are dissatisfied with the economy and how the federal government is functioning. That includes nine in ten Democrats, and nearly three in ten Republicans.

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When asked about how the federal government is handling undocumented immigrants, 57% disapprove, including 89% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans.

The survey also found that majorities “say that the cuts in federal funding of health care programs (60%) and universities and research institutions (55%), the implementation of new tariffs on imported goods (54%), and the increase in funding for ICE to speed up efforts to arrest, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants (52%) have gone too far, though partisan differences are stark, with Democrats being far more likely to say such changes have gone too far.”

PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told Axios that it “looks like political independents are very unhappy with Trump’s actions,” with “close to two-thirds on many indicators saying the administration has gone too far in its policies.”

She added: “That’s a warning sign for the GOP ahead of the midterms.”

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President Donald Trump is under fire after a New York Times bombshell revealed he wants $230 million from the Justice Department over two investigations targeting him during his campaign.

The Times explained that there is “no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims.” The paper of record also called it “the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.”

Critics are blasting the president.

“It’s hard to think of an action more purely corrupt than a …. president ordering the executive branch to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars,” wrote David French, a New York Times opinion columnist. “I cannot wait to read the MAGA defenses of this (and there will be many). They’ll display Soviet levels of sycophancy.”

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Attorney Andrew Weinstein, a former Obama and Biden appointee, noted that “$230 million could feed every homeless veteran in America for more than 3 years.”

Jesse Lee, a former Obama and Biden official, remarked, “What a g– crook.”

Marlow Stern, who teaches at the Columbia Journalism School and is a former Rolling Stone senior editor, asked, “now he’s extorting… the u.s. justice department?”

Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman quoted the Trump White House Press Secretary: “’I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,’ Karoline Leavitt said in May. ‘He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service.'”

Political historian Brian Rosenwald commented, “Like come the f– on, this is the most blatant corruption in American history. He’s just stealing from us the taxpayers.”

Derek Martin, founder and president of Pathfinder Research, wrote: “Trump is demanding taxpayers write him a check for $230 million while Republicans tell us they can’t afford to help ordinary Americans pay for health insurance. Cartoonishly evil.”

Jeff Hauser, who writes the Revolving Door Project on Substack, observed: “The dude is desecrating the White House and extorting the Treasury during a shutdown [after] several million Americans protested him. It’s kind of now or never for an opposition party to be provocative in attacking corruption. Trump is too busy enriching himself to govern.”

Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz wrote: “The president of the United States is attempting a smash-and-grab on the U.S. Treasury, and the people with the ability to say no are his former personal lawyers, this is insane.”

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President Donald Trump reportedly appears to be demanding the U.S. Department of Justice pay him $230 million in compensation after multiple investigations during his presidential campaign.

“The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims,” The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported.

Noting that President Trump has installed his former personal lawyers at the top of the DOJ, the Times called it “the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts.”

Trump, according to the Times, in 2023, submitted a claim that “seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.”

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Another complaint, filed the following year, “accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents.”

Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University, told the Times it was “a travesty.”

“The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it,” Gershmann said. “And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses. It’s bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.”

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