US President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC [File: Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/EPA]By Al Jazeera Staff and ReutersPublished On 21 Sep 202621 Sep 2026
United States President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 32 percent – the lowest of his political career – as his fellow Republicans soured on his handling of the cost of living amid the unpopular Iran war, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The four-day poll, which closed on Sunday, showed 73 percent of Republicans approved of Trump’s job performance, down from 82 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll a week earlier. His overall approval was 35 percent then.
Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 on promises to tame inflation and end foreign wars. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the hours after he was first sworn in, he enjoyed a 47 percent approval rating.
Just 17 percent of respondents in the new poll approved of his handling of the cost of living – the top issue. Americans say it will determine how they vote in the November 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities.
Dissatisfaction among Republicans has been growing since Trump launched the war on Iran in February, which has pushed gasoline and diesel prices sharply higher. Now for the first time, Republicans who disapprove of Trump’s handling of the cost of living outnumber those who give him a thumbs up – 51 percent to 44 percent.
Trump said on Wednesday that the United States is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran, raising the prospect of renewed diplomacy even as fighting continues in Yemen.
However, Tehran has not confirmed that direct negotiations with Washington have resumed.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online and gathered 1,277 responses from US adults nationwide. It had a margin of error of three percentage points.
