Donald Trump has been underwater in the polls for most of his second term. But this week, he hit a new low.
According to Reuters, the president’s approval rating has dropped to 33 percent, which is the lowest of his second presidency in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.
President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a National Day of Prayer event, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in the White House Rose Garden. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
It’s tied with one moment in his first presidency, in 2027, when he had dropped as far as 33 percent in approval.
In the poll, 64 percent of respondents disapprove of the president’s performance, meaning Trump is down to just one-third of the electorate.
Trump has been in consistently negative territory in the Reuters/Ipsos poll since just days into his second presidency.
The RealClearPolling average of polls puts Trump’s approval rating at -19.2 percent.
All 18 polls included in the average put Trump in the red, with all of them in double-digit negative except Rasmussen Reports, which is -9.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll is included and is one of the worst for Trump, although an AP-NORC poll from late July had Trump at -33.
And Iran is a big part of that.
An Unpopular War
Wars in the Middle East have collapsed quite a few American presidencies, and it’s looking like Trump’s second presidency could go that way itself, thanks to the increasingly unpopular war in Iran.
“The ensuing conflict paralyzed a fifth of the global oil trade, triggering a surge in the price of gasoline that is weighing on U.S. households,” the Reuters story about the poll says.
A big problem for Trump, Reuters notes, is that he ran on both avoiding new wars and curbing inflation.
The Iran adventure has gone against both promises, and judging by the low approval rating, Trump has lost a lot of support from Americans who voted for him in 2024.
Even more worrying for Trump, with the status of the Strait of Hormuz still uncertain, he doesn’t have any easy way out of the Iran conflict.
And voters see that. According to Reuters, 80 percent of Americans, including 87 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of Republicans, believe that the Iran War “will go on for an extended period of time.” Just 16 percent of respondents believe the war will likely end “in a few weeks.”
Reuters also noted that polling earlier this month found that voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on stewardship of the economy, for the first time in a decade.
Voters also favor Democrats on cost of living, which was not the case during Joseph Biden’s presidency. And while immigration has been Republicans’ strongest issue in recent years, that gap has narrowed as well.
The famed polling statistician Nate Silver also provided his own analysis of the Iran war’s popularity, finding net support for the conflict at -19.6 as of Tuesday.
Silver’s poll average found opposition to the Iran war at 57 percent and support at 36.8 percent. The Reuters/Ipsos poll is part of Silver’s average.
RCP’s average of polls on the popularity of the president’s handling of the Iran War is -26, with every poll in the red, and all of them except for one in double digits.
Trump’s Defense of High Gas Prices
Despite frequently blaming Joe Biden for high gas prices during his presidency, Trump spoke at a rally last week on Long Island and said he would “never apologize” for them.
“For you to pay a little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you’re doing it so a very evil country cannot have… a country, really, it’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world; we don’t want to have them have nuclear weapons,” Trump said at the rally. However, most voters don’t seem to be buying that sales pitch.
This led to much social media speculation that that very soundbite, of Trump tying high gas prices to his own policies and refusing to apologize for them, would likely end up in campaign commercials this fall, as the Republicans defend their majorities in both houses of Congress, to determine who controls the House and Senate during Trump’s last two years in office.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
