Summary
President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to 31 percent, the lowest of either of his terms, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monda…
President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to 31 percent, the lowest of either of his terms, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday, as voter anger over inflation and fuel prices hands Democrats their largest congressional ballot lead of the cycle three weeks before the midterm elections.
The poll, which closed Monday, found 31 percent of Americans approve of Trump's performance, down a point from two weeks earlier. Among registered voters, a generic Democrat led a generic Republican 47 percent to 35 percent — a 12-point advantage, the widest measured this cycle. The survey of 1,679 adults, including 1,279 registered voters, carried a margin of error of about two to three points.
Other surveys released the same day told the same story. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll put Trump's approval at a record-low 33 percent and found 66 percent of Americans believe he is using the presidency for personal enrichment. An NBC poll found 71 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, and 55 percent would vote for a Democrat if the election were held today.
The economy is the engine of the discontent. Consumer prices rose 3.7 percent year over year in September, and gasoline jumped 9.1 percent in the month — accounting for more than half of the overall increase — as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, launched on February 28, keeps energy markets under pressure. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the war had added an estimated 120 billion dollars in fuel costs for Americans, calling it a "massive wealth transfer" from consumers to oil companies and urging a "blue tsunami" on Election Day.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back, calling the September inflation jump an energy shock rather than a sign of broader price pressure, and predicting prices will fall once the Iran conflict ends.
The political stakes are total: the November 3 elections will decide control of both the House and the Senate. Betting markets currently price roughly a 63 percent chance that Democrats capture both chambers, and nonpartisan forecasters have been moving House races toward Democrats in recent weeks. Trump has taken to the trail in states including Kansas and North Carolina, campaigning for Republican candidates in races that have tightened unexpectedly — an acknowledgment, from both parties, that the map is moving.
Analysts caution that the same surveys show the president's problems now extend beyond the opposing party: the Reuters/Ipsos poll found deep dissatisfaction with his economic management even among a meaningful share of Republican respondents.
Source: Reuters
