President Donald Trump’s public approval rating rose from a record low, while Americans voiced growing support for Democrats gaining power in the U.S. Congress in a Reporters/Ipsos poll taken in the days after the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention last week.
The four-day poll showed 63% of Americans – including four in 10 Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats – disapproved of Trump’s offer made in his convention speech that he would ensure all Americans get a $5,000 dividend if Republicans retain control of the U.S. Congress in November’s midterm elections.
The survey gathered responses from 1,143 Americans nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
Some 35% of Americans give Trump a thumbs up for his performance in the White House, up from 33% in an August 28 to 31 Reporters/Ipsos poll, the lowest of his political career.
Trump’s popularity has declined since he launched a war on Iran in February that has disrupted oil shipments from the Middle East and pushed fuel prices near record highs, hitting U.S. household finances. Since the war started, Trump’s Republicans have also lost some support, and in recent weeks have lost their longtime edge as the better party for economic policy.
DEMOCRATS’ ELECTORAL EDGE
Asked which party they would vote for if the congressional elections were held today in what is known as a “generic ballot” poll, 44% picked Democrats and 37% picked Republicans. The 7-point gap was the widest since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. For Republicans, losing control of either chamber could complicate Trump’s agenda in the last two years of his term.
Generic ballot polls are national polls that provide an overall view of which party poll respondents want to see in charge in Congress. While these polls provide a view of national public sentiment, they do not capture all the nuances of the state-by-state and district-by-district contests that determine control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, contests in which Republicans hold some structural advantages.
Voters picked Democrats over Republicans as the better stewards of the economy – 38% to 37% – with Democrats gaining that edge over the summer for the first time in about a decade.
Trump’s construction projects throughout the U.S. capital – including a ballroom for the White House – were largely polarizing and viewed through a partisan lens, with 91% of Democrats in the survey saying they opposed the plans, compared to one in four Republicans who were against them.
Some two-thirds of Americans – including half of Republicans – considered the construction projects to be a low priority.
(Reporting by Jason Lange )
