President Donald Trump spent his 80th birthday watching Ultimate Fighting Championship battlers knock the crap out of each other for his amusement, the latest display of how he has spent his second term pursuing his own interests and self-aggrandizement.

A survey released Monday by Navigator Research, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit, found that Trump’s authoritarian aesthetics were more than a sideshow and were meaningfully weighing down his already-low popularity levels. They contribute to the public’s belief that Trump is focused on almost anything other than the economic concerns they think should be front and center.

According to the survey, 56% of registered voters opposed Trump’s hosting of last night’s UFC event, with just 28% in support. And with a net -28 approval, that was one of the more popular of Trump’s recent authoritarian-tinged actions. Unveiling a 22-foot gold statue of himself at Mar-a-Lago clocked in at -44; putting his face on passports and a theoretical $250 bill was -38; awarding a no-bid contract to repaint the Reflecting Pool was -36; constructing a 250-foot triumphal arch was -34.

But it was Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House in hopes of building a ballroom with $1 billion in taxpayer money that finally broke through with the public. A full 65% of registered voters opposed the ballroom, with a mere 22% in support. Beyond the survey results, recent focus groups conducted by Navigator suggested swing voters were fully aware of Trump’s designs for what is now a hole in the ground.

“The ballroom is such a representation of how the elite and those around the president are getting ahead, while average people are struggling to get by,” said Melissa Toufanian, the managing director of Navigator Research. “It’s an example of that mismatching prioritization, when people want the president to focus on inflation and the cost of living, and what they’re seeing is everything but that.”

The poll found 58% of registered voters thought it was important for the president and Republicans in Congress to focus on inflation and the cost of living, but just 20% of the public thought that was what Trump and the GOP were working on.

Notably, even a significant portion of MAGA-aligned Republicans thought the projects showed Trump was focused on the wrong things: 31% said so about the ballroom, 29% about the gold statues, and 24% about putting his face on passports and the theoretical $250 bill.

Asked why they found Trump’s actions concerning, voters gave mixed answers, with wasting taxpayer dollars, enabling corruption and making bad decisions for the country all attracting public support.

Overall, the poll found Trump’s net approval rating at -18, and at -23 on economic issues. Only 20% of the public approved of the president’s handling of gas prices, with even MAGA-aligned Republicans negative on Trump’s performance.

Despite Trump’s struggles on economic issues, the Democratic edge over the GOP on these topics remained tiny. Voters preferred Democrats on gas prices by only a 37% to 32% margin, and backed Democrats on inflation by just 38% to 34%.

Global Strategy Group, a Democratic polling firm, conducted the survey of 1,000 registered voters from June 4 to June 8. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.