A new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) finds President Donald Trump still deeply unpopular with California’s likely voters, with approval stuck in the mid-30s and disapproval near double that level.
The December PPIC Statewide Survey, conducted online between November 13 and 19 among 1,086 likely voters, showed 34 percent approving of the way Trump handled his job as president, while 55 percent disapproved and 11 percent were unsure. The margin of error for likely voters was 3.9 percentage points.
Why It Matters
California is the nation’s most populous state and a key source of Democratic electoral votes. The Golden State has backed the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 1992. Persistent, lopsided disapproval of Trump in California underscores how limited his room for growth remains in one of the country’s biggest political and economic powerhouses.
Trump has struggled in California because his policies and political platform are at odds with many of the state’s dominant political and social values. This conflict is exacerbated by a consistent pattern of legal and political clashes between the federal administration and California’s Democratic leadership—with Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2028 presidential prospects improving, according to latest polling.
In March, PPIC polling showed that “only one in three Californians” approved of Trump’s job performance, making him less popular in the state than any other president in surveys going back to before 2005. The new December numbers suggest that basic dynamic has not changed.
What To Know
PPIC’s December crosstabs—data showing how different subgroups within a surveyed population answered a question—show Trump’s California approval among likely voters at 34 percent, with 55 percent disapproving.
The institute noted that the survey was fielded online using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel and that question wording, timing and sampling error could all affect results.
The same time-trend table showed Trump’s approval among California likely voters bouncing within a narrow band throughout 2025: 34 percent in February, 33 percent in June and 35 percent in October, with disapproval consistently above 60 percent in those earlier waves.
PPIC’s series indicates that historically, Trump’s support in California has never reached 40 percent among likely voters, fluctuating between a low of 27 percent and a high of 39 percent since early 2017.
In June 2017, 27 percent of California adults approved of Trump’s job performance in the White House, while 67 percent disapproved and described him as “predictably unpopular” in the strongly Democratic state.
What People Are Saying
California Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones told Newsweek in March: “Our mission is clear: Break the Democratic supermajority and fix California. As Senate minority leader, that means flipping four Senate seats next election. Californians are fed up with one-party rule.”
California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin said at the state GOP’s convention in March: “Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democrats’ one-party rule and make California great again. We’re going on the offense. We need to expand the battlefield and to take the fight to every corner of our state.”