By Jason Lange and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s presidential approval rating fell to nearly its lowest level since he returned to the White House, hit by a drop in support among Republicans, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The four-day poll, which closed on Monday, showed 35% of the country approved of Trump’s job performance, down a percentage point from a Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month and just above the low-point of his presidency – 34% – seen last month. Trump started his current term in January 2025 with a 47% approval rating.
The president’s popularity has taken a hit this year as Americans suffer from surging gasoline prices since Trump ordered strikes on Iran in February alongside Israel.
The war shut down a large chunk of the global oil trade, sending prices at the pump for Americans about 50% higher and raising concern among Trump’s Republican allies, who will be defending their congressional majorities in the November midterm elections.
Discontent is spreading within Trump’s party, with 21% of Republicans saying they now disapprove of the president’s performance, compared to 5% just after he took office in January 2025. Some 79% of Republicans in the poll said Trump was doing a good job, down from 82% earlier in the month and 91% at the start of his term.
Republicans have soured in particular on Trump’s handling of the cost of living for Americans, an issue he promised to address during his campaign in 2024, after a bout of high inflation bedeviled his predecessor in office, Democrat Joe Biden. Only 47% of Republicans give Trump a thumbs up on the cost of living, compared to 46% who say he’s doing a bad job. Among Americans overall, just one in five approve of Trump’s stewardship over the cost of living.
The poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,271 adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points for Americans overall and 5 points for Republicans.
Republican political strategists said the downward turn in Trump’s popularity could be a sign of flagging enthusiasm among Republican voters ahead of the November elections, when control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress will be up for grabs.
“The bigger concern I would have is that Republicans don’t seem to be as motivated to turn out in midterm elections as Democrats do right now,” said Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican consultant. Hoffman said it remained unclear how much impact Trump’s declining numbers might have, with four out of five Republicans still backing him. “80% is still a pretty big number,” she said.
Trump’s support within his party has held more firmly for his immigration policy, another issue central to his 2024 presidential election campaign and which has animated core supporters, a group he refers to as the Make America Great Again movement, or MAGA. Some 82% of Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, little changed from last year.
Trump also came to office on promises to avoid what he called “forever wars” like the U.S. military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, which occupied U.S. troops for most of the last quarter century.
He has argued that the conflict with Iran has been a success, touting strikes that killed the country’s leader and many senior politicians. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April, but Iran has largely refused to allow oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war saw a fifth of the global oil trade.
Just 62% of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling the situation in Iran, while 28% disapprove, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove, as do two-thirds of independents.
Overall, just one in four respondents in the poll – and about half of Republicans – said the U.S. military action in Iran has been worth it.
(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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