Most Ghanaians continue to approve of President John Mahama’s job performance even as public satisfaction has slipped, according to a new nationwide poll released on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
The poll, conducted in May 2026 across all sixteen regions of Ghana with over 1,000 respondents, shows Mahama’s approval rating at 58.9%, down 9.1 percentage points from 68% recorded in December 2025. Some 28.4% of respondents disapproved of his performance, while 12.8% had no opinion.
The IEA noted that the more than 30 percentage point gap between approval and disapproval shows that positive views of the President’s performance remain significantly ahead of negative ones, although the decline indicates rising public expectations.
The economy emerged as the biggest driver of approval, with nearly three in four approvers (73.5%) citing the government’s handling of the economy. This was followed by road infrastructure (16.0%) and energy and electricity (2.7%).
The findings come after notable macroeconomic improvements under the Mahama administration. Since January 2025, inflation has dropped sharply from 23.5% to around 3.4%, the cedi has appreciated by 26% against major currencies, and the Bank of Ghana’s policy rate has been reduced from 27% to 14%. Average commercial bank lending rates have also fallen from around 32% to approximately 20%, while the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio declined from 61.8% at the end of 2024 to 45.3% by the end of 2025.
These gains have earned international recognition, with Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P all upgrading Ghana’s sovereign credit rating — described by the IEA as the first triple upgrade in many years.
Among disapprovers, the economy was still the top concern (30.9%), which the IEA attributed largely to the fact that macroeconomic gains have not yet fully translated into lower costs of living, more jobs, or higher household incomes for many citizens. Electricity supply issues accounted for 29.9% of disapproval, linked to temporary power outages experienced across the country in May 2026. Corruption was mentioned by 19.1% of those who disapproved.
The IEA described the overall picture as one of broad but expectant public support.
“The findings suggest that Ghanaians are broadly supportive of the President’s leadership but are expectant that the progress recorded at the macro level will increasingly be felt in their daily lives,” the institute stated.