New Reuters/Ipsos poll shows 33 percent approval rating as gasoline prices and prolonged conflict weigh on Republican midterm prospects.
AI-generated summary
The conflict with Iran has paralyzed a significant portion of global oil trade, leading to increased gasoline prices in the U.S. President Trump previously pledged the conflict would be short-lived.
President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday.
Just 33 percent of respondents in the four-day survey, down from 35 percent, said they approved of Trump's performance in the White House, while 64 per cent disapproved.
Trump's approval rating, which is now lower than at any point in his current term, has tied the lowest level of his prior term reached in December 2017.
Just under half the country approved of his presidency when he returned to the White House in 2015, but Trump's popularity took a hit after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside Israel.
The ensuing conflict paralyzed a fifth of the global oil trade, triggering a surge in the price of gasoline that is weighing on U.S. households - and on Trump's Republican allies defending congressional majorities in November midterm elections.
Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep inflation in check and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledged the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks. But Iran has proved resilient and has kept the oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz largely bottled up even as the conflict has cooled.
Some 80 percent of Americans - including 87 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of Republicans - think U.S. involvement in Iran "will go on for an extended period of time," the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Just 16 percent said the conflict would likely end in a few weeks.
Trump told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is worth the cost of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the war.
Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent. Only one in five Americans - and just half of Republicans - think the war has been worth it, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Concerns about the war and gasoline prices have Republicans nervous about their hopes of defending their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 3 elections, and Democrats increasingly see the U.S. Senate also within their grasp.
Reuters/Ipsos polling this month has shown voters prefer Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in about a decade. The latest poll showed 38 percent of voters think Democrats will handle the economy better, compared to 35 percent who prefer the Republican approach. Democrats are also seen as better equipped to manage the cost of living.
The Republican approach to immigration has remained more popular than that of Democrats throughout Trump's term, with a sharp fall in border crossings and sustained nationwide crackdown ordered by Trump. But Republicans are losing ground amid deadly confrontations and a surge in detainees, including children.
Some 40 percent of registered voters said Republicans have the better approach on immigration policy, compared to 38 percent who pick Democrats, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. That 2 percentage point spread is the lowest of Trump's term. Republicans led by 26 points in January 2025.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,166 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
November 3 midterm elections
Very likely · Within months

President Trump faces a potential electoral defeat similar to Jimmy Carter’s 1980 loss, as an unpopular, stalled war with Iran and rising fuel costs threaten Republican control of Congress ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has urged an end to the conflict with the US, asserting Iran's strength. Meanwhile, the US plans new sanctions as tensions remain high over the Strait of Hormuz, where the US navy continues to protect tanker convoys.