WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest point of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans expressing concern that the U.S. war with Iran will be prolonged, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday.
Just 33% of respondents in the four-day survey approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, while 64% disapproved. The approval rating dropped from 35% in a poll earlier this month and matches the lowest level of Trump’s first term, reached in December 2017.
Trump returned to the White House in 2025 with just under half the country approving of his presidency, but his popularity declined this year after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside U.S. ally Israel. The ensuing conflict has paralyzed a fifth of global oil trade, triggering a surge in gasoline prices that is weighing on U.S. households and threatening Trump’s Republican allies as they defend congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.
Trump campaigned on promises to control inflation and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledging the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks. However, Iran has proven resilient and has kept oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz largely bottled up even as the conflict has cooled.
Some 80% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, believe U.S. involvement in Iran “will go on for an extended period of time,” the poll found. Just 16% said the conflict would likely end within a few weeks.
Only one in five Americans, and just half of Republicans, think the war has been worth it. Trump told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” was worth the cost of ensuring “a very evil country” could not have a nuclear weapon.
The poll also showed voters prefer Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in about a decade. Some 38% of voters think Democrats will handle the economy better, compared to 35% who prefer the Republican approach. Democrats are also seen as better equipped to manage the cost of living.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, gathering responses from 1,166 U.S. adults nationwide with a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
