Washington: Donald Trump may not be in nearly as much strife as Sussan Ley, but he is facing a pivotal week in his presidency and, as winter approaches, skating on thin ice with many Americans.

With a Republican president in the White House and a Republican majority in both congressional chambers, voters are largely blaming Trump and his allies for a federal government shutdown that is about to become the longest in history.

Donald Trump is facing a pivotal week in his presidency as the shutdown heads toward being the longest in US history.Credit: Bloomberg

His approval rating is falling further into negative territory, according to the largest and most respected polls. Three surveys taken in the last week of October for major news companies – ABC, NBC and Reuters – gave the president a net negative between 12 and 19 points. A new CNN poll has the margin at a devastating 26 points.

Trump is following a similar decline in popularity as most presidents in their first year. But as a polarising figure serving his second term, he started from a lower base than Barack Obama in 2009 or Joe Biden in 2021.

And now, he is copping it over the shutdown. An NBC News poll taken last week found 52 per cent of voters blamed Trump and/or the Republicans in Congress, while 42 per cent blamed congressional Democrats. In an Ipsos poll for ABC News and The Washington........

© The Sydney Morning Herald