Most Ghanaians continue to approve of President John Mahama's job performance, but public satisfaction has slipped, according to a nationwide poll released today, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

The poll, conducted in May 2026 across all sixteen regions of Ghana and covering over 1,000 respondents, puts Mahama's job approval rating at 58.9% — down from 68% recorded in December 2025. Some 28.4% of respondents disapprove of his performance, while 12.8% expressed no opinion.

The IEA says the more than 30 percentage point gap between approval and disapproval indicates that positive assessments of the President's performance remain well ahead of critical ones, even as the decline signals a public growing more expectant.

Economy the biggest driver of approval

Among those who approve, the economy is the overwhelming reason. Nearly three in four approvers — 73.5% credit the government's handling of the economy, followed by road infrastructure at 16.0% and energy and electricity at 2.7%.

The findings reflect a period of notable macroeconomic improvement under the Mahama administration. Since January 2025, inflation has fallen 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 cut from 27% to 14%. Average commercial bank lending rates have also declined from around 32% to approximately 20%, while Ghana's debt-to-GDP ratio dropped from 61.8% at the end of 2024 to 45.3% by the end of 2025.

Those gains have drawn international recognition, with Fitch, Moody's, and S&P all upgrading Ghana's sovereign credit rating — what the IEA describes as the first triple upgrade in many years.

Electricity and cost of living trouble disapprovers

Among those who disapprove, the economy still tops the list at 30.9% — though the IEA cautions this does not necessarily reflect a rejection of the government's macroeconomic record. The institute says it may instead point to the lived experience of Ghanaians for whom falling inflation and a stronger cedi have not yet fully translated into lower costs of living, more jobs, or higher household incomes.

Electricity supply was cited by 29.9% of disapprovers, a finding the IEA links directly to a temporary power supply constraint in May 2026 that brought frequent outages to homes and businesses across the country. Corruption was raised by 19.1% of disapprovers, a signal, the IEA notes, that the government's anti-corruption rhetoric has yet to fully convince a significant portion of the public.

Approval has slipped, but the base remains solid

The IEA describes the overall picture as one of broad public support tempered by rising expectations. "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.

The poll is the latest in the IEA's regular series tracking presidential job performance.