MAGA’s disgruntlement with President Donald Trump over his team’s dismissal of the Jeffrey Epstein affair is turning into a political crisis, and a top pollster is comparing the fallout to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that hobbled former President Joe Biden.
In new polling from Rasmussen Reports shared with Secrets, 56% do not believe the FBI or Justice Department claim that the convicted sex trafficker had a “client list.” And more than not, 47% to 31% believe Epstein was murdered in his jail cell in August 2019, rather than believe he committed suicide.
Even worse for the administration, which has essentially called the scandal closed, just 16% of likely voters agree, while 68% believe instead that “There are dozens of powerful and wealthy offenders who need to face justice.”
Even if Trump approval recovers, this could be a Waterloo moment.
— Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen Reports (@honestpollster) July 15, 2025
Rasmussen pollster Mark Mitchell, who has been closely watching the growing anger in MAGA with Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, said the scandal is on the verge of being out of control.
“If it keeps going, this is his Afghanistan,” Mitchell told Secrets. “The new Epstein polling is brutal,” he added. On X, he called it a “Waterloo moment.”
Good Morning !
Congratulations again to the PR geniuses at The Justice Department.
THIS MORNING – Epstein Files: 56% Reject Recent FBI Report https://t.co/aPAFy4nX8W pic.twitter.com/JKOsxPJe5J
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) July 15, 2025
Trump has tried to quiet the outrage from supporters and the media over Bondi and the FBI’s handling of the Epstein case, which he long promised transparency on. He has even mocked reporters for asking questions about it.
But that has not silenced some of his closest allies, including Charlie Kirk, Megyn Kelly, and Steve Bannon, who are calling on the president to keep his promise to release every detail in the case, which they think might include Democrats on the “client list.”
The agencies have fed confusing information to the public. At the same time, Justice was reporting that Epstein committed suicide and that there was no sex client list, the department and the FBI said in a court filing with legal watchdog Judicial Watch that the case wasn’t closed, and there are more documents being found.
In a post on X, Rasmussen Reports mocked, “Congratulations again to the PR geniuses at The Justice Department.”
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As the affair has escalated, Trump’s approval rating has turned downward, and he is now underwater, 47% approve to 51% who disapprove. At the beginning of the month, those numbers were reversed.
Now the president is trending back to his high disapproval following his initial tariff announcement that crushed the stock market. And just two weeks ago, he was standing tall, having bombed Iran’s nuclear sites and signed his “big, beautiful bill” into law.
