There’s a polling story unfolding that’s hard to ignore. Vice President JD Vance arrived in office just over a year ago with what looked like solid footing, but the numbers tell a very different story now.
According to reporting from HuffPost, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten has documented a remarkable collapse in Vance’s approval ratings. The vice president started 2025 with a net approval rating of plus 3 points. Today, he’s sitting at minus 18 points. That’s a 21-point swing in the wrong direction.
“JD Vance is not doing too hot to trot at this point,” Enten said while presenting his latest polling aggregate. It’s the kind of blunt assessment that cuts through the usual political noise.
A Historic Low for Vice Presidents
What makes this particularly striking isn’t just that Vance’s numbers have tanked. It’s where they’ve tanked relative to his predecessors. Enten was clear about the historical weight of this moment: “We can say JD Vance is historically the least popular vice president at this point in their vice presidency.”
That’s not hyperbole or spin. It’s a measurable fact. Every vice president who came before him at the same stage of their tenure had better approval ratings. Whether you’re looking at recent administrations or reaching back further, Vance stands alone at the bottom of this particular list.
The timing matters too. Vance had a window to establish himself, to build whatever political capital a vice president might accumulate. Instead, what we’re seeing is the opposite trajectory. His approval rating has moved decisively in the wrong direction, and fast.
The Drag Effect
Enten made another observation that speaks to the broader political climate. Vance isn’t sinking in isolation. “Down he goes! JD Vance getting dragged down along with the president of the United States,” Enten noted. This suggests the vice president’s struggles are tied to larger perceptions of the administration as a whole.
According to the reporting, some of Vance’s unpopularity appears connected to his foreign policy involvement, particularly his unsuccessful efforts related to Hungary and Victor Orban. But the broader issue, as voters seem to see it, is that the Trump administration is spending too much attention on foreign matters when people are worried about their own economic stability.
Working Americans, after all, are contending with real pressures right now. Rising costs, sudden instability, and uncertainty about what comes next. When voters are feeling that squeeze in their daily lives, a focus on international affairs can feel like a distraction from what actually matters to them.
What This Means
Vice presidents have historically been political afterthoughts, rarely the center of public attention. But approval ratings do matter. They reflect how the public perceives a politician’s standing and competence. A 21-point dive in just over a year suggests something has genuinely shifted in how Americans view Vance.
Whether this unpopularity translates into broader political consequences remains to be seen. But the data is clear and undeniable. Vance came into his role with modest approval but managed to lose ground dramatically in a remarkably short window. The question now is whether he can stabilize his political standing or if this represents a more permanent realignment in public perception.
