President Donald Trump’s approval rating stood at 36% in the latest -Ipsos poll, while 62% of respondents said they disapproved of how he was handling the job. The numbers came as several polls released in the past week pointed to a president still stuck below 40% in most polling averages cited in the article.
That level of weakness matters because it leaves Trump far from the sort of political cushion that can blunt backlash when the public turns sour. The most recent -NORC poll put his approval at 33% and his disapproval at 67%, with support running even lower on key issues: 40% on immigration, 32% on the war with Iran, 30% on the economy and 23% on cost of living. YouGov had him at 37% approval and 59% disapproval, while CNBC put him at 40% and 58%.
The polling also lands at a moment when the economic pressure is already visible in the data. Costs for food companies rose nearly 8% year-over-year in March, up from 4.2% in February, sharpening the cost-of-living problem that has been dragging on Trump’s standing. The Ipsos Trump poll results fit a broader pattern in which concerns about the war with Iran and household expenses are doing real damage to his numbers.
There is a historical warning built into that pattern. George W. Bush won a narrow majority of the popular vote in 2004 and Republicans expanded their House and Senate majorities to 232 and 55 seats, but his approval rating fell into the 40s in 2005, the 30s in 2006 and below 30% by 2008. Bush once told Americans after that election, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and I intend to spend it,” but second-term presidents can burn through that capital quickly when the public decides their agenda is not working.
Trump does not yet face the same collapse Bush did, but the direction is hard to miss. A president who starts a term at 36% approval, with disapproval above 60% and no clear strength on the economy, immigration or foreign policy, is already operating in the political danger zone.