Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans approve of President Trump’s performance, according to a poll released Monday, a sign the Iran war could be a drag on the president and his party in a midterm year.
Only 37% of Americans approved of Mr. Trump’s overall performance as president, a 4-percentage-point drop from a New York Times/Siena poll in January.
The pollsters said it is unclear if the ratings will result in election losses, but they found the number significant for symbolic reasons. In the last 17 years, no president has fallen below the 38% approval mark for longer than a few days in this poll.
Less than one-third of voters — 28% — approved of Mr. Trump’s handling of the cost of living, a major selling point for Mr. Trump during the 2024 campaign after President Biden struggled to curb inflation.
Recent inflation reports show that prices are rising at a faster rate than when Mr. Trump took office, due largely to higher energy costs from the war with Iran.
Iran is clamping down on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil choke point, as retaliation for U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that began in February, leading to energy shortfalls and higher prices.
The average U.S. price of a gallon of gas was nearly $4.52 on Monday. While the average price has been relatively steady over the past week, it is up 52% from when the war started on Feb. 28.
Mr. Trump says short-term economic pain will be worth the payoff once he reaches his goal of preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Democrats say Mr. Trump launched a war of choice that is hurting Americans economically, and that Congress should rein in his war powers.
The NYT/Siena poll found almost two-thirds of voters — 63% — believe going to war was the wrong choice, including nearly three-quarters of independents. However, 7 in 10 Republicans think Mr. Trump made the right choice.
The White House responded to the poll by saying that “what matters most to the American people is having a commander-in-chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump did with the successful Operation Epic Fury.”
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and he’s kept his promise,” said White House spokesman Davis Ingle. “The president does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people.”
The poll was conducted by telephone among 1,507 registered voters nationwide from May 11 to 15. It had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.