A new Reuters/Ipsos four-day national online poll that closed on Monday found President Donald Trump’s approval rating at 36%, a decline from 40% in the same poll conducted last week. The drop represents the lowest approval level recorded for Mr. Trump since he resumed the presidency earlier this year.
Respondents flagged the president’s handling of the cost of living as a particular weakness. Just 25% of those surveyed approved of his stewardship of the cost of living - a core theme of his 2024 presidential campaign - as gasoline prices have risen since coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, according to the poll.
Party-level support shows more resilience. Roughly four out of five Republicans continue to back Mr. Trump’s overall performance, with only about one in five Republicans saying they disapprove of his job in the White House. That figure is little changed from about one in seven Republicans who reported disapproval in last week’s Reuters/Ipsos poll. However, Republican dissatisfaction on the specific issue of the cost of living increased: the share of Republican respondents who disapprove of his handling of household costs rose to 34% from 27% the prior week.
By contrast with his first days in office, when approval reached 47%, Mr. Trump’s standing had largely hovered around 40% since last summer until the recent slide reflected in this latest snapshot.
Public reaction to U.S. strikes on Iran
The survey also examined public views of recent U.S. strikes on Iran. Approval for the strikes stood at 35% in the latest poll, down from 37% in the previous week’s Reuters/Ipsos survey. Meanwhile, 61% of respondents said they disapproved of the strikes, up from 59% the prior week.
Earlier Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted immediately after the first U.S. and Israeli strikes allowed respondents to indicate uncertainty. A February 28 - March 1 poll found 27% approved of the strikes, 43% disapproved and 29% said they were unsure. The most recent questionnaires did not include an unsure option; instead, 5% of respondents in the newest poll declined to answer the question on their view of the war.
Implications for congressional politics and economic perceptions
There is little evidence in the poll that Mr. Trump’s slipping popularity is dramatically affecting Republican standing in congressional contests. Among registered voters in the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 38% said Republicans were the better stewards of the U.S. economy, while 34% selected Democrats on that question.
The poll gathered responses from 1,272 U.S. adults across the nation and reports a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Context and limitations
The results represent a snapshot over a recent four-day period and reflect changes in public sentiment at a time of rising fuel prices and active military strikes. The survey format for the most recent wave did not provide an option for respondents to say they were unsure about the strikes on Iran, a methodological difference from the earlier February 28 - March 1 poll that included such an option.
These findings document immediate shifts in approval and issue-specific confidence among the public and within the president’s own party. The poll data underline heightened voter sensitivity to inflation-related pressures such as gasoline price increases, and to the public’s evolving assessments of military action.