President Trump's approval rating has sunk to 32%, matching the lowest mark of his political career, as a months-long war with Iran and rising living costs erode his standing less than a month before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
The figure comes from Reuters/Ipsos polling that found Trump's support sliding further even among Republicans, with just 44% of GOP voters approving of his handling of the cost of living against 51% who disapprove — the first time in his second term that Republican disapproval on that issue has outweighed approval. Only 17% of all respondents approved of his handling of living costs overall, which pollsters identified as the single issue most likely to determine how Americans vote on November 3. A separate NBC News/Telemundo survey released Sunday found 59% of Latino voters now say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, roughly double the share who felt that way two years ago; the same survey found just 24% of Hispanic Americans approve of Trump's overall performance.
"I'm doing great"
Asked by a reporter about the polling showing him losing ground with Latino voters as he headed to a campaign rally in Nebraska on Monday, Trump dismissed the numbers outright.
I'm doing great. You're CNN, you're fake news.
— Donald Trump, speaking to reporters, October 5, 2026
The slide traces largely to the war Trump launched against Iran in February, now in its eighth month, which has pushed gasoline and diesel prices toward record highs as Iran has maintained a de facto blockade on oil exports from the Gulf. Republican strategists have grown increasingly anxious that the conflict, paired with the affordability squeeze, could cost the party House and Senate seats it can ill afford to lose given its narrow majorities.
A rockier map for Republicans
The drag is already visible on the campaign trail. In Texas, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton has acknowledged that figures in Washington are effectively directing his campaign, an admission that has unsettled some state party officials. In California, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has faced backlash from within his own party over a campaign ad critics called "creepy" and laden with innuendo. Democrats, for their part, are moving to capitalize: former President Barack Obama is scheduled to campaign alongside Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's pivotal Senate race, one of several contests both parties see as central to the fight for the chamber.
The White House has brushed off suggestions that the numbers reflect genuine erosion in Trump's coalition, with the president arguing — as he did in Nebraska — that unfavorable polling simply reflects biased media coverage. But with Election Day five weeks away and his own party's voters now souring on his signature economic promise of lower costs, Republican campaign operatives are bracing for a difficult November, and Democrats are moving aggressively to turn the war and the affordability crisis into their central closing argument.
