{"id":264367,"date":"2026-08-25T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/264367\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T17:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:05:20","slug":"iran-war-is-unpopular-as-trump-battles-low-approval-ratings-recent-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/264367\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran war is unpopular as Trump battles low approval ratings: Recent polls"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s approval rating\u00a0remains\u00a0low\u00a0as\u00a0Americans express pessimism about the Iran war and continued economic worries, according to a USA TODAY review of\u00a0five\u00a0polls released in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The August polls released by Marquette Law School (Aug. 5 and 6<\/a>), Economist\/YouGov (Aug. 11<\/a>), Reuters\/Ipsos (Aug. 17<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Aug. 24<\/a>) and Emerson College\u00a0(Aug. 20<\/a>) were conducted across the country with different groups\u00a0of\u00a0likely voters\u00a0or American adults, but they all told a similar story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Americans are getting ready to head to the voting booth in November as primary season across the U.S. nears its close. Economic concerns and dismay over the war against Iran are ramping up, and Democrats see a slight edge over their Republican colleagues in the midterm race to control Congress.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump’s second term: Actions, travels of the 47th president<\/p>\n

1 of 96<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump <\/a>and Vice President JD Vance attend the funeral service for the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at the Washington National Cathedral on July 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. Graham,\u00cawho was elected to the Senate in 2002, died suddenly on July 11th from an aortic dissection. He was 71 years old.<\/p>\n

(Andrew Harnik, Getty Images)Trump’s approval rating\u00a0is still low<\/p>\n

The president’s approval rating\u00a0remained\u00a0a net negative and sat in the low to high 30-percentage-point range in most polling. The Marquette Law School poll\u00a0saw\u00a0a slight\u00a0jump from June’s 38% approval rating to an August-reported 40% of Americans approving of Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economist\/YouGov and Reuters\/Ipsos\u00a0reported 33% approval ratings, which fell two or three points from more recent polls. Emerson’s poll reported a slightly higher rate, with 39.5% of Americans approving of Trump while 55.8%\u00a0disapproved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump is seeing positive approval ratings in only Wyoming,\u00a0Idaho\u00a0and West Virginia, according to an Economist\/YouGov projection on\u00a0Aug. 21<\/a>\u00a0which found more people disapproving than approving of the president in the other 47 states and Washington, D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See a map of\u00a0Trump’s\u00a0net approval: Trump underwater in 47 states and DC, new projection finds<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s\u00a0midterm season, which is a historical low point for the president, but\u00a0factors like the Iran war and increasing partisanship in the U.S. contribute to Trump’s numbers being particularly lower than those of his predecessors, according to Pew Research Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The partisan divide over Trump’s job performance reflects a longer-term trend,” researchers\u00a0Shanay Gracia\u00a0and\u00a0Jocelyn Kiley\u00a0wrote for Pew<\/a>. “While presidential approval ratings have always been partisan, the gap between how Republicans and Democrats see presidents has increased over the last several decades.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The president slammed\u00a0recent\u00a0polling as “Fake Polls” by “Radical Left Democrats.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re\u00a0putting them out at levels never seen before,” Trump said in an Aug. 24 Truth Social post<\/a>. “They’re called ‘Demoralization Operations,’ where they try to demoralize Republicans so that they don’t go out and vote \u2013 But the actual Polls are tremendous, and the Spirit in our Country has never been higher.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

USA TODAY is unable to\u00a0identify\u00a0the polls that the president says are tremendous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrats have a slight midterm lead\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another finding across multiple polls was a\u00a0slight\u00a0edge by Democrats on the generic ballot in the upcoming midterm elections.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Marquette’s August poll, 46% of registered voters preferred Democrats on the generic ballot, compared with 44% for Republicans.\u00a0Among\u00a0likely voters, though, the Democrats’ lead over Republicans increased, with 51% of\u00a0likely voters\u00a0saying they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their districts, and only 45% preferring the Republican candidate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economist\/YouGov and Emerson each had the Democratic lead on generic ballots sitting at around 8 percentage points, but for Emerson’s poll, that was down from an 11.4 percentage point lead the previous month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The polls\u00a0offer\u00a0a glimmer of\u00a0hope\u00a0for Democrats and their voters, who hope that the party can shrink the Republican majority in Congress \u2013 or capture it \u2013 this midterm season. Right now, Republicans control the Senate\u00a053-47 (with two in the minority being independent), while their\u00a0lead in the House sits at 218-212.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A view of the Capitol dome as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

The Iran war is unpopular among Americans\u00a0<\/p>\n

Support for U.S. military action against Iran is at a new low, with support falling among Republicans as well, according to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The poll released on Aug.\u00a024\u00a0reported that only 31% of Americans approve of the operation, which is down from 37% in March and even earlier in August, when 34% of Americans approved.\u00a0According to a Reuters analysis of the polling results, the decline is driven by more Republicans turning against the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More: Approval for Iran war reaches new low, poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n

That poll\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0alone in reporting\u00a0Americans’ negative feelings on the\u00a0war.\u00a0Reuters\/Ipsos also reported that\u00a080% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, believed U.S. involvement with Iran would continue for an “extended period of time.”\u00a0Ten percent of adults polled by Emerson felt that the war was the\u00a0more\u00a0important issue\u00a0to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Iran action started\u00a0on Feb. 28, and Trump is still doubling down on claims, as recently as Aug. 21, that\u00a0Iran is a “little detour.”<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0president has held firm in his messaging that the priority is ensuring Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economic concerns rising for Americans\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across multiple polls, American adults and voters said that economic factors are their top concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emerson respondents\u00a0cited economic factors such as inflation,\u00a0jobs\u00a0and taxes as\u00a0an important issue\u00a0in the United States, with\u00a036.5% ranking it as the top issue.\u00a0Those polled by\u00a0Reuters\/Ipsos cited rising gas prices as a concern amid the Iran conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Marquette’s poll, 35% of Americans said inflation and the cost of living was their top issue, and the economy was right behind it, with 15% listing it as their second highest concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economic concerns are historically a driving factor for voters, and could explain why Democrats are leading in polls while the president’s approval rating\u00a0remains\u00a0low.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“By a wide margin, voters most want candidates running for Congress to talk about economic issues \u2013 with many specifically mentioning prices and affordability,” the Pew Research Center’s\u00a0Andrew Daniller,\u00a0Andy Cerda,\u00a0Hannah Hartig\u00a0and\u00a0J. Baxter Oliphant\u00a0wrote in late July<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economic experts\u00a0have pointed to some positive factors, but they note that Americans are still feeling the pain in their pockets.\u00a0Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, posted in August on X about inflation and expensive gas at the pumps wiping out wage gains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“For middle-income and lower-income Americans, this is the key issue. There will\u00a0likely be\u00a0some belt-tightening ahead,” Long said in an\u00a0Aug. 12 post<\/a>. That same day, though, she noted that inflation eased slightly in July, according to government data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contributing:\u00a0Michael Loria,\u00a0Fernando Cervantes Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran war is unpopular as Trump battles low approval ratings: Recent polls<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump‘s approval rating\u00a0remains\u00a0low\u00a0as\u00a0Americans express pessimism about the Iran war and continued economic worries, according to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1792,54147,54148,38,72679,72677,34,72676,72678,1288],"class_list":["post-264367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-americans","tag-approval-rating","tag-approval-ratings","tag-donald-trump","tag-economic-concerns","tag-emerson-college","tag-iran","tag-marquette-law-school","tag-presidential-approval-ratings","tag-republicans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117157241402976198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}