Two findings from the latest national NBC News poll, which shows Trump’s approval rating down from March, help explain not only Tuesday’s results but how a fired-up Democratic Party base is engaging with politics right now. The large “No Kings” protest movement has mobilized those strongly opposed to Trump, and interest in the 2026 election is already at a historically high point, according to the poll.
More than 4 in 10 registered voters (43%) say they support No Kings, a larger share than some past political protest movements measured by NBC News polling, and about the same size as the Black Lives Matter movement was in April 2023.
A little less than 3 in 10 Americans supported the tea party movement in September 2010, the first time it was asked in an NBC News poll, and about the same amount supported the Occupy Wall Street movement in November 2011.
Meanwhile, today, one-third of registered voters said they currently support Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
Support for the No Kings movement is about on par with the share of voters who say they strongly disapprove of Trump, 48%, as voters say he’s fallen short on the economy and other key issues.
When I think of the media’s ecstatic coverage of the Tea Party, the way they fawned over the leadership and followed them around like they were a bunch of Deadheads, I’m reminded once again of just how wired for the Republicans they are.
But the truth hurts. I know most of the establishment thinks that Democratic voters simply don’t matter but there are actually a whole lot of them who disapprove of Trump and a majority of Independents do too. These numbers who that there are more of them than cop to being MAGA and who identified with the Tea Party. Maybe they could pay a little bit more attention next time there’s a big protest. Which there most definitely will be.