A new Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded Monday shows President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 33 percent, the lowest level of his current term. The four-day survey of 1,166 U.S. adults found that 64 percent of respondents disapprove of his performance in the White House, while his approval fell from 35 percent in previous polling.
The decline follows U.S. military strikes on Iran, conducted alongside Israel, which triggered a surge in gasoline prices as a fifth of the global oil trade became paralyzed. While approximately half the country approved of the presidency when Trump returned to office in 2015, public opinion has shifted amid the ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. Though Trump initially predicted the conflict would last a few weeks, Iran has maintained a disruption of oil trade even as active hostilities cooled.
Data from the poll indicates that 80 percent of Americans, including 87 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of Republicans, believe the U.S. involvement in Iran will continue for an extended period. During a Friday rally in Garden City, New York, Trump stated that higher gasoline prices were a necessary cost to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, only 20 percent of all respondents, and 50 percent of Republicans, told pollsters they believe the war has been worth the cost.
For U.S. households, the scale of the impact is felt primarily at the gasoline pump. The disruption of 20 percent of the global oil trade has led to price increases that Trump characterized as paying "a tiny little bit more," though the specific dollar amount per gallon was not reported. The poll suggests this economic pressure is eroding the traditional Republican advantage on cost-of-living issues. Additionally, while Republicans maintain a slight 2-point lead on immigration policy (40 percent to 38 percent), this is a significant decrease from the 26-point lead the party held in January 2025.
The knock-on effects of these polling trends are influencing the legislative and campaign strategies of both major parties. Democrats now view control of the Senate as a reachable goal, while Republicans are navigating internal party divisions where only half of their base supports the current military engagement. What happens next depends on the November 3 election results, which will determine if Trump maintains a supportive Congress to continue his foreign policy and immigration mandates, or if a shift in power will lead to new oversight of the U.S. involvement in the Middle East.