Trump Approval Hits Record Low 33% as Midterms Near
President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 33 percent, the lowest ever recorded in the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos survey, with 16 days to go before the November 3 midterm elections. According to reporting on the poll, 66 percent of Americans disapprove of his performance, including 52 percent who strongly disapprove. The figure is down from 37 percent approval in July and is lower than at any point during his first term.
The survey of 2,545 adults, conducted Oct 9 to 13, is not an outlier. A separate NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll put the number at 34 percent, and a Fox News poll released Oct 14 marked the lowest approval for Trump in that network’s polling across either of his terms.
The economy is driving the slide
The numbers point squarely at the cost of living. Seventy-four percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation, and for the first time since 2014, Democrats are more trusted than Republicans on the economy, 40 percent to 33 percent. Seventy-one percent of adults say gasoline is unaffordable, and 48 percent say their finances have worsened since Trump returned to office, the highest such reading since 1986.
Democrats lead the House generic ballot by eight points, up from three in July, and 58 percent of registered voters say they prefer a Democratic-led Congress as a check on Trump. Sixty-five percent called the Iran military action a mistake, and about six in ten disapproved of his immigration record. Voters also doubted one of Trump’s signature promises: 71 percent said they do not believe he would deliver the 5,000 dollar “dividend” check he proposed.
What it means for the final two weeks
The White House is responding with a midterm campaign blitz, with Trump traveling to states including Kansas and Georgia to rally for Republican candidates. But the poll suggests the headwinds are national, not local. With the economy polling as voters’ top concern and energy markets rattled by Iran tensions, the administration has little time to change the story.
The Georgia rally showed the campaign’s strategy: energize the base in competitive states and hope turnout beats the polling. Whether that is enough when nearly three quarters of the country says it is on the wrong track is the question the next 16 days will answer.
