WASHINGTON, United States (Reuters) — US President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans concerned the US war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday.
Just 33% of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, while 64% disapproved. Trump’s approval rating, down from 35% in a poll that closed earlier this month and lower than at any point in his current term, tied the lowest level of his prior term reached in December 2017.
After returning to the White House in 2025 with just under half the country approving of his presidency, Trump’s popularity this year took a hit after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside US ally Israel. The ensuing conflict paralyzed a fifth of the global oil trade, which triggered a surge in the price of gasoline that was weighing on US households — and on Trump’s Republican allies defending congressional majorities in November midterm elections.
Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep inflation in check and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledged the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks. But Iran has proved resilient and has kept the 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 — thought US involvement in Iran “will go on for an extended period of time,” the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Just 16% said the conflict would likely end in a few weeks.
Trump justifies high gas prices
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, one of his stated rationales for the war.
A customer checks gas prices before she fills up her vehicle’s tank at a gas station, in Gages Lake, Illinois, April 15, 2026. (AP/Nam Y. Huh)
Throughout the conflict, the president had alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal was imminent. Only one in five Americans — and just half of Republicans — thought the war had been worth it, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Concerns about the war and gasoline prices had Republicans nervous about their hopes of defending their slim majority in the US House of Representatives in the November 3 elections, and Democrats increasingly saw the US Senate also within their grasp.
Reuters/Ipsos polling this month showed voters prefer Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in about a decade. The latest poll showed 38% of voters think Democrats will handle the economy better, compared to 35% who prefer the Republican approach. Democrats were also seen as better equipped to manage the cost of living.
The Republican approach to immigration had remained more popular than that of Democrats throughout Trump’s term, with a sharp fall in border crossings and a sustained nationwide crackdown ordered by Trump. But Republicans were losing ground amid deadly confrontations and a surge in detainees, including children.
A man holds an American flag during a funeral procession for US Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad, who was killed in the ongoing war between the US and Iran, during the funeral procession in the Queens borough of New York on July 31, 2026. (AP/Ryan Murphy)
Some 40% of registered voters said Republicans have the better approach on immigration policy, compared to 38% who picked Democrats, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. That 2 percentage point spread was the lowest of Trump’s term. Republicans led by 26 points in January 2025.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,166 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.
