WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has hit a new record low, casting a darker shadow over the Republican Party's prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. 

According to a public opinion survey released on the 18th (local time) by Ipsos for The Washington Post (WP) and ABC News, President Trump’s approval rating stood at 33%. This marks a 4-percentage-point drop from the previous poll in July, representing his lowest mark of his second term. 

Disapproval of his presidential performance reached 66%, with a striking 52% expressing "strong disapproval." 

A separate poll released the same day by NBC News similarly recorded Trump’s approval rating at a personal low of 34%. Disapproval ratings climbed to 66%, with 51% strongly disapproving. 

Earlier on the 14th, a poll by the right-leaning Fox News also showed Trump's approval rating dropping to 36%, the lowest across both his first and second terms. 

The WP-ABC survey also probed voter preference for control of Congress. When asked whether they preferred a Democratic-led or Republican-led legislature, 58% favored the Democrats, while 39% preferred the Republicans. This 19-percentage-point gap is roughly double the margin recorded in a similar poll a year ago. 

The primary driver behind Trump’s sliding popularity is economic distress, led heavily by inflation and cost-of-living concerns. Disapproval ratings for his economic policies and cost-of-living handling stood at 70% and 77%, respectively. 

Approval for his economic management dropped to a mere 28%, compared to 41% in February and 33% in July. By comparison, during the same period ahead of the 2018 midterms in his first term, his economic policy approval rating was 49%. 

Furthermore, 48% of respondents reported that their financial situation had worsened since Trump’s return to office—the highest figure recorded by WP-ABC for any president in their tracking data dating back to 1986. Among those reporting financial hardship, 78% favored the Democratic Party in the upcoming congressional elections, alongside 71% of independent voters.

Shifts in everyday economic sentiment were stark. In a February survey conducted before the outbreak of the war in Iran, 71% of respondents said gasoline prices were affordable. Now, 71% say gasoline prices are unaffordable, highlighting mounting pressures from fuel costs. 

On foreign policy and governance, 65% of respondents criticized the war in Iran as a miscalculation by Trump, while 68% disapproved of his handling of traditional allies. Negative sentiment also commanded majorities regarding his administration's approach to immigration and the deportation of undocumented immigrants.

The WP-ABC poll was conducted from September 9 to 13 among 2,545 American adults, with results weighted based on the Pew Research Center’s party affiliation benchmarks. The margin of error is ±2 percentage points. Meanwhile, the NBC News poll was conducted by SurveyMonkey from September 29 to October 12 among 19,135 adults, with a margin of error of ±2.6 percentage points.

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