President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest in his second term, largely due to discontent with the economy and his ties to notorious pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, which lasted four days and ended on Monday, saw Trump's approval rating fall to 38 percent.
On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a measure that would force the U.S. Department of Justice to release all of its files concerning its investigation into Epstein.
The president has, until recently, opposed the move, insisting both that his alleged involvement with Epstein is a hoax and that it is Democrats who are more implicated in the documents. On Sunday, after the House Oversight Committee released another tranche of Epstein documents which include emails referencing Trump, the president reversed his position and called for House Republicans to release the files.
The House bill was quickly approved in the Senate and was sent to Trump’s desk to be signed.
Only 20 percent of Americans — including only 44 percent of Republicans — said they approve of how Trump is handling the Epstein situation. The majority of Americans — 87 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans — said they believe that the government is hiding information related to Epstein and his so-called "clients."
The poll found that Trump's approval rating has fallen by two percentage points since a similar poll in early November. The poll questioned 1,017 U.S. adults nationwide and has a 3 percentage point margin of error.
Trump's popularity with Republicans, while still high, has begun to slip, according to the poll. The previous poll set Trump's approval rating among Republicans at 87 percent, but that has since fallen to 82 percent.
Republican political strategist Doug Heye told Reuters that the dip in his approval is more about prices than it is his association with Epstein.
"It's all about prices," he told the outlet. "People are furious when they go out and spend money at the grocery store, and they can't believe what they are spending."
Only 26 percent of respondents said that Trump is doing a good job at managing everyday living expenses. That's down from 29 percent earlier in the month.
Inflation has remained a constant thorn for American consumers and has hit a record high since Trump returned to office in January. Consumer prices were up by 3 percent in the 12 months through September. Approximately 65 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Trump's economic performance.
Trump's slipping approval rating comes after Republicans suffered significant defeats during this year's elections. Both New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial races were won by Democrats, and socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayor's race despite efforts by Republicans and disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to defeat him.
