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Trump Approval Drops to 37% Amid Iran War Backlash and Economic Worries

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President Donald Trump’s approval rating has slid to 37 percent in a new New York Times/Siena College poll, as a solid majority of Americans call the Iran war a mistake and say it is worsening their economic anxieties heading into the 2026 midterms yougov. Other national surveys show similar numbers, with Trump stuck in the mid‑30s and Republicans trailing Democrats by double digits on the generic congressional ballot nytimes +1.

The Times/Siena poll, conducted May 11–15 among 1,507 registered voters, found most respondents believed Trump was wrong to take the U.S. to war with Iran and disapproved of his handling of the conflict yougov. An April PBS News/NPR/Marist survey reported that 60 percent disapproved of Trump’s management of the war and 63 percent blamed him for higher gas prices, while a Pew survey in March found 61 percent opposed the military action altogether maristpoll +1. The backlash has left Republicans defending narrow majorities in Congress at a time when midterm elections typically punish the president’s party.

An Unpopular War and Rising Economic Pain

The U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran, launched on Feb. 28, disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and helped push average U.S. gasoline prices to about $4.50 a gallon, roughly 50 percent higher than a year earlier maristpoll +1. Polls show voters clearly linking that spike to the conflict and to the White House: two‑thirds in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said Trump has not clearly explained U.S. goals in Iran, and majorities said the war is hurting household finances nytimes +1.

That combination of military skepticism and economic strain has produced unusually deep disapproval for a wartime president. An Economist/YouGov survey this month put Trump’s net approval at −22 (36 percent approve, 58 percent disapprove), while multiple polls find independents opposing the war by large margins and rating the economy poorly nytimes +1. “Most voters think President Trump made the wrong decision to go to war with Iran,” the Times reported in its poll analysis yougov.

Midterm Map Darkens for Republicans

The sour mood is already reshaping the 2026 electoral landscape. The PBS/Marist poll showed Democrats leading Republicans 52 percent to 42 percent on the generic House ballot, a margin that nonpartisan analysts say could be enough to flip control of the chamber if it holds through November maristpoll. A Brookings Institution analysis argued that the combination of sub‑40 percent presidential approval, cost‑of‑living concerns and a double‑digit Democratic edge in national polling “implies substantial Democratic midterm gains are likely,” even after GOP‑friendly redistricting courierpostonline.

Republicans have tried to rally around national‑security arguments and to blame global forces for higher energy prices, but private worries have spilled into public view. Congressional Republicans narrowly beat back war‑powers resolutions in March that would have constrained Trump’s ability to continue strikes on Iran, exposing unease within their own ranks about the political risks of an open‑ended conflict courier-journal. As one veteran handicapped the midterms on PBS, this year’s angry voters are not “just anti‑Trump Democrats,” but also “frustrated independents, really driven in large part by the economy” maristpoll.

The Bigger Picture

Historically, presidents suffering mid‑30s approval ratings during unpopular wars—such as George W. Bush in 2006 and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968—have presided over heavy midterm losses for their parties reuters. With months of fighting in Iran, high gas prices and no clear war endgame visible, Trump and Republicans are confronting a similar pattern: a public that sees more cost than benefit from the conflict, and a political map increasingly tilted toward a “wave” election unless either the war or the economy, or both, change course quickly.