‘High T’ Pete Hegseth’s approval rating hits embarrassing low

While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly considering a run for president, polls show no one else really wants him around.A new poll from Quinnipiac University places Hegseth’s approval ratings at record lows. Only 32% of likely voters approve of the job he is doing at the Department of Defense, while 57% of voters disapprove. Sitting 24 percentage points underwater marks a low point in the pollster’s tracking of Hegseth’s popularity.While 39% of voters express some degree of confidence in Hegseth’s leadership as President Donald Trump’s Pentagon leader, 13% were “not so confident” and 43% said they had no confidence at all.Related: Pete Hegseth wants a testosterone-fueled military. The science doesn’t back the macho fantasyThis means the Defense Secretary has an even lower rating than President Donald Trump, who on the same poll clocked in at a 33% job approval rating. He’s also less popular than Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has the approval of just 36% of voters right now.Hegseth’s new nadir in polling may well center on his handling of the Iran war; the poll shows only 22% support a military escalation while 30% would leave the country without a peace deal negotiated.But the plunging to new depths of unpopularity also comes after Hegseth made news for a bizarre push for a more testosterone-injected military force. His push to hunt down transgender people in the ranks to separate them while failing to pay severance to those who volunteered for honorable discharge has also earned negative headlines.Related: Democratic congresswoman calls out Pete Hegseth’s ‘intense, homoerotic feelings towards men’ Meanwhile, top military officials have made an exodus from the Pentagon in protest of Hegseth’s decision-making , with the departure of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll drawing particular attention. That fueled calls to resign from both Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.“If we had a (Secretar