More than 100 days after ordering military strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump finds himself facing a stubborn political reality: his approval rating remains pinned near the lowest levels of his career, with most Americans bracing for higher gas prices and his performance on kitchen-table economic issues drawing more disapproval than his Democratic predecessor ever faced, according to a new national poll.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed Monday found that 35% of respondents said they approved of Trump’s performance in the White House — unchanged from a prior Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in mid-May. The reading sat just above the lowest rating of his current term — 34% in an April Reuters/Ipsos poll — and remained close to his first-term low of 33% recorded in December 2017.
The persistence of those numbers reflects the war’s deepening grip on American economic life. Trump ordered military strikes on Iran on February 28 alongside U.S. ally Israel. Iran responded with counterattacks that have largely shut down shipping through a narrow strait that previously carried a fifth of global oil trade. The pace of attacks and counterattacks has diminished since April, but peace talks have yet to yield a lasting agreement.
Gas Price Anxiety Dominates Public Outlook
Despite some moderation at the pump in recent weeks, public pessimism about energy costs remains entrenched. Some 59% of respondents said they expected U.S. gas prices to get worse over the next year, compared with 17% who believed they would improve, according to the six-day poll. The remainder said they were unsure or expected prices to remain flat.
Oil markets have remained elevated throughout the conflict. Brent crude, the primary global benchmark, stood roughly a third higher than pre-war levels even as prices pulled back from their peak amid tentative signals of a potential deal. In the war’s early weeks, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline surpassed $3.70 — up from approximately $2.93 just one month earlier.
An earlier Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May found that 64% of Americans said recent increases in gas prices had affected their household’s financial situation, with a large majority — 83% — expecting gas prices to continue rising in the following month. Of those surveyed, 86% said the conflict with Iran bore a great deal or a fair amount of responsibility for the recent rise in prices, while three-quarters said the Trump administration was responsible.
Cost-of-Living Approval Falls Below Biden’s Worst
Nowhere has the political damage been more pronounced than on the issue Trump made central to his return to power. Only 22% of Americans approve of how Trump is managing the cost of living for U.S. households, compared to 70% who disapprove. Americans are now more dissatisfied with Trump’s performance on that issue than they were with his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, who closed out his term with 29% approval on cost of living and 63% disapproval.
The comparison carries particular weight given the political history. Biden struggled with several years of high inflation that ultimately weighed on his party in the 2024 presidential election and helped lift Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris. Trump campaigned on promises to fix inflation, and persistently high fuel prices are weighing on his party’s hopes of keeping control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
War Support Remains Shallow
Public backing for the military campaign itself has been limited since its launch and has not recovered. Some 36% of Americans said they approved of U.S. strikes on Iran. A smaller share — 25% — said the benefits of the strikes had been worth the costs.
Voters also expressed concern about the war’s longer-term consequences, with 46% of respondents in earlier polling believing the conflict would make the United States less safe in the future, while 26% believed it would make the country safer.
Republican Economic Advantage Evaporates
Beyond the White House numbers, the poll pointed to a broader shift in partisan positioning heading into the midterm cycle. Registered voters said they would pick Democrats over Republicans by 41% to 37% if congressional elections were held today. While polls last year showed voters trusted Republicans more on how to manage the economy, that advantage has recently evaporated — 36% of voters in the latest poll said Democrats had a better plan for the economy, compared to 37% who picked Republicans.
The erosion represents a significant reversal from the dynamic that defined the 2024 election cycle, when economic discontent was viewed as a structural Republican advantage.
War’s Military Arc and Stalled Diplomacy
The conflict has passed its 100-day mark with no durable resolution in place. A temporary two-week ceasefire brokered in early April, which included provisions for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, ultimately failed to hold after peace talks broke down over Iran’s nuclear posture. Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation, said the negotiations failed because Iran would not provide an affirmative commitment that it would not seek a nuclear weapon.
Traffic through the strait remains well below pre-war levels. Before the February 28 strikes, more than 100 vessels made the journey daily. As of late May, supertankers had resumed some passage, but volume remained sharply reduced. The disruption has constituted what analysts have described as the largest oil supply shock in modern history.
Poll Methodology
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online and gathered responses from 4,531 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points. The survey was carried out nationwide over a six-day period concluding Monday. The results extend a months-long pattern of suppressed presidential approval that has tracked closely with the trajectory of the war and its downstream effects on American household finances.