President Donald Trump's approval rate remains near record lows at 35%, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by Reuters in mid-May, noted that the figure is just above the president's lowest rate for the term, 34%, and one percentage point more over the lowest percentage on record, 33% on his first term.
Elsewhere in the poll, most respondents said they expect gas prices to continue rising this year as the war in Iran continues. Concretely, 59% gave that answer, compared to 17% who said they will get better and 17% who believe they will remain about the same.
Figures diverge largely depending on party affiliation. Over 4 in 5 Democrats believe gas prices will continue rising, in contrast with 34% of Republicans. More than 6 in 10 independents also gave that answer.
Only 22% of respondents said they approve of the way Trump is handling the cost of living, while 70% disapprove. Several polls have outlined similar scenarios. The May Politico poll found that a majority of Americans say that the cost of living is the worst they can remember and a significant number of them blame the Iran war and President Trump's policies.
The poll noted that 53 percent of respondents believe cost of living was the worst they could remember. That figure was up from slightly from November. The number of respondents holding Trump responsible for this held steady at 46 percent.
The outlet noted that, among Trump voters, the president fared better. However, even they were split on the issue of whether Trump had done enough to mitigate rising costs from the Iran conflict, with 43 percent saying he had and 43 percent saying he had not.
"A major challenge for [Joe] Biden was that, as prices rose and worries about inflation took hold, the response from the Biden administration was that inflation was 'transitory,'" Kevin Madden, a longtime GOP communications strategist, told Politico.
"Trump faces a similar predicament. As prices rise due to tariff and trade policies and global conflict, the response that it's a hoax or not true is just a very discordant message given that so many voters are feeling a budget pinch right now," Madden told the website.
Since the start of the Iran war, the inflation rate has been increasing. The rate increased from 2.4 percent in February to 3.3 percent in March, Trading Economics reported. The rate rose to 3.8 percent in April, the highest inflation has been since May 2023.
