With the never-ending swirl of action around President Donald Trump, it’s often hard to tell how voters perceive his actions. In this month’s I&I/TIPP Poll, there’s been some erosion in Trump’s scores from voters as they pause to ponder the dizzying array of issues he is tackling.

With everything from military attacks on drug cartels to trying to keep the Israeli-Hamas Oct. 10 ceasefire from unraveling to going on a wide trade swing through Asia (including finalizing a trade deal with China), Trump’s October was filled with action on several prominent issues.

Despite what Trump supporters might consider a highly successful month in October on key issues, his favorability ratings have slipped. This month’s national online poll was taken from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31 by 1,418 adults, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points

Each month, I&I/TIPP asks voters the following question: “Overall, is your opinion of Donald Trump generally favorable, generally unfavorable, or are you not familiar enough to say one way or the other?”

Overall, in November, 41% held a favorable opinion of Trump, while 49% held an unfavorable opinion and another 10% said they weren’t familiar enough to say (6%) or that they weren’t sure (4%).

This is down a bit from October, when 43% held a favorable opinion of Trump, while 46% were unfavorable. So Trump’s net favorability score fell from minus 3% in October to minus 8% in November.

So where was the erosion? Mostly among independents.

Democrats and Republicans shifted little in terms of how favorably they saw Trump’s presidency. But independents fell somewhat: In October, 34% of indies had favorable views of Trump, while 54% were unfavorable and 12% were no opinion/not sure.

In November, the indie favorability dropped to 31%, while the unfavorable rose to 56%. So the independent negative reading fell from minus 10% to minus 15%.

The second question I&I/TIPP asks each month is: “In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, or are you not familiar enough to say one way or the other?”

Once again, scores were marginally weaker than a month earlier. Overall, in November, 40% expressed approval of Trump’s handling of the presidency, versus 51% disapproval. That compares with October’s reading of 42% approval, and 46% approval.

And, also again, Trump’s slump was virtually entirely among independents. In November, 28% of independents approved of Trump’s handling of the presidency, while 59% disapproved. In October, the equivalent numbers were 32% approval, 55% disapproval.

That’s a big swing from minus 23% net disapproval to minus 31% net disapproval, all in one month.

What about leadership? Each month, as a third gauge of presidential performance, we ask voters: “How would you describe the leadership that President Trump is providing for the country?”

For November, 40% described Trump’s leadership as either “very strong” (25%) or “strong” (15%), while another 13% called his leadership moderate. Of the remaining, 41% called his leadership either “weak” (10%) or “very weak” (31%).

That’s also a flip from October, when 42% called Trump’s leadership strong and 38% weak.

The independents again were the trouble spot for Trump. In November, 28% called Trump’s leadership strong, versus 48% who described it as weak. This compares to October’s readings of 32% strong and 45% weak. So the negative gap expanded from 13% in October to 20% in November.

(Below: The TIPP Presidential Leadership Index measures public sentiment over time by combining three components: favorability, job approval, and presidential leadership. The index ranges from 0 to 100, with readings above 50 indicating optimism and below 50 signaling pessimism. In November, the overall index stood at 45.9 (Oct=48.8, Sep.=48.5), with Republicans most optimistic at 81.7 (Oct=84.0, Sep.= 83.0), Democrats least at 17.1 (Oct=18.7, Sep. = 18.5), and independents in between at 36.1 (Oct=39.4, Sep.=38.8).

I&I/TIPP also asks voters to grade the president on his key policy initiatives, as a measure of his performance.

In November, 37% gave Trump “A” (excellent) or “B” (good) grades overall, down from 40% in November. Top scores were given for “handling the immigration, border security situation” (43%); “handling violence and crime in the country” (37%); “handling the Israel-Hamas conflict” (36%): and “restoring America’s core values” (36%).

Among the lowest scores were “handling of healthcare” (29%); “handling spending and taxes” (32%); “handling of Russia” (32%); “handling of North Korea” (33%); and “handling the economy” (34%).

Again, some slippage after a summer of stable favorability readings.

A question arises: Is Trump moving too fast for the moderates that make up the bulk of the independent voting bloc? Do they want the Trump carnival ride to slow down a bit?

It’s unclear. But Trump has wrought greater change in a shorter time than any president in modern memory. Are independents, who tend toward a moderate point of view on major issues that falls somewhere between the two big parties, tapping the brakes a little on their support for Trump?

That might be the case. But if Trump is in a hurry, it’s not surprising. It’s fairly well documented that elected Democrats and appointed officials in both the Obama and Biden administrations waged a secret campaign of spying to keep Trump out of office.

Meanwhile, a separate “lawfare” campaign kept him busy with four criminal indictments with dozens of felony counts that could have kept him in prison for close to 100 years. As president, he has also faced a concerted campaign by Democrat-nominated federal judges to thwart his policy initiatives.

This perhaps explains why Trump has been so aggressive in pursuing his major initiatives. Despite trolling the media about running for a third term, he has acknowledged that the Constitution forbids it.

Knowing he has a little more than three years left, Trump is moving fast to fix things that he thinks need fixing. He’s also trying to leave a legacy for the Republican Party along the lines of the Reagan Revolution: A clear historical demarcation of before and after.

Trump’s future success will depend strongly on having political backing from his MAGA supporters but also, and perhaps especially, from independents.

How important are the latter to Trump?

According to Edison Research/National Election Pool, in the 2020 election, just 26% of all those who voted identified as independents; Trump lost. In 2024, indie voters made up 34% of voters; Trump won.

Independents, disgruntled with former President Joe Biden’s shambolic four-year term, likely pushed Trump back into the White House. Will they do the same for a potential Republican successor? It might hinge on Trump’s own popularity by the end of his final term.

Right now, Trump looks a bit weaker with his once-solid independent support. Perhaps his recent focus on foreign affairs is eroding some of his independent backing, as the November I&I/TIPP Poll results suggest.

I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past six presidential elections.

Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.