Only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, down slightly from 37% in June. His approval tends to stay within a narrow range, but the latest number has once again fallen well below where his approval stood when he took office last year.
Theoretically yes, but I think he has a unique "quality" in that he doesn't care and doesn't get distracted by any negative feedback because he's so stubborn and narcissist.
So he's a very useful tool to turn into reality every deranged change and effortlessly lie about anything, with confidence. Plus, he's old, so he doesn't need to care whether he gets into trouble for all this in the future.
So I think in a way Trump is not just the enabler of all the authoritarian changes, but also a great punching bag to get hit by any public blame while the people in the background (Project 2025 etc.) driving the changes aren't becoming too big of a target and getting away with it all.