Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Read the original at The Straits Times ↗
The Straits Times · collected 2026-09-21 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump's approval rating dropped to 32%, the lowest in his career, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll, conducted September 16-20, showed that Republican support for Trump fell from 82% to 73% due to dissatisfaction with his handling of living costs and the unpopular Iran war, which has increased fuel prices. With just 17% approval for managing cost-of-living issues, more Republicans now disapprove (51%) than approve (44%) of Trump's performance on this key issue ahead of the November midterm elections.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to 32% — its lowest point in his political career — according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from September 17-20, 2025. This decline was driven by Republican dissatisfaction with his handling of the cost of living, particularly since he launched an unpopular war on Iran in February that has significantly increased gasoline and diesel prices. Only 17% of respondents approved of Trump's management of living costs, a critical issue leading up to the November 3 midterm elections where Republicans are defending narrow majorities in Congress. The poll also showed a decrease in Republican approval from 82% to 73% over just one week.

Written for “Trump Approval Rating Falls Low” on 2026-10-05, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
11
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
0%
0 of 11 hedged
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Correction & hedging signals
59.1
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
6
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-21 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Trump Approval Rating Falls Low
Politics · 6 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds same event · 100%
The Straits Times · 1.00 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 11 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the exact same Reuters/Ipsos poll results regarding President Trump's approval rating falling to a career low of 32%, citing the same details and timeframe.”
Trump’s approval rating falls to career low in new poll same event · 100%
The Independent · 0.94 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 22 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the same specific Reuters/Ipsos poll released on September 21, 2026, showing President Trump's approval rating at a career low of 32%.”
Trump’s approval rating hits record low amid Iran war, economy fallout same event · 100%
Al Jazeera · 0.94 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 10 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the exact same Reuters/Ipsos poll results about President Trump's approval ratings on the same day.”
Trump approval falls to record low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds same event · 100%
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 8% hedged 2 of 26 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the same Reuters/Ipsos poll released on September 20, 2026, detailing President Trump's approval rating dropping to a career low of 32%. The details and context are consistent between both reports.”
Devastating news for Trump as poll shows how Americans really feel about Iran war same event · 95%
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 20% hedged 4 of 20 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on a poll conducted around the same time showing declining approval ratings for President Trump due to his handling of issues related to Iran and high costs.”
NBC News poll on Trump’s approval rating and ICE officer shoots man in Texas: Morning Rundown different event · 90%
NBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 10 of 59 📰 publisher trust 95
“The articles report on different polls conducted by NBC and Reuters/Ipsos, showing variations in approval ratings.”
Poll: Most voters say Trump has hurt the economy as competitive midterm election looms different event · 70%
NBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 6% hedged 4 of 65 📰 publisher trust 95
“The articles report on different polls conducted around the same time but with slight differences in dates and sample populations.”
Trump and the GOP lose a key edge with voters: From the Politics Desk different event · 30%
NBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 45 📰 publisher trust 95
“While both articles discuss a decline in Trump's approval ratings, they do not describe the exact same poll or incident.”
Three Mistakes That Made Donald Trump different event · 20%
Reason
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 8% hedged 4 of 53 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A reports on a specific Reuters/Ipsos poll about Trump's approval rating, while Article B discusses general mistakes that contributed to Trump's low approval ratings and references different polling sources.”
Trump’s disapproval ratings are hitting historic levels ahead of the midterms different event · 20%
The Independent
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 21% hedged 4 of 19 📰 publisher trust 59
“The articles cover different polling periods and report varying approval/disapproval levels, indicating separate data points or timeframes.”

Publisher

The Straits Times · 1980 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

The Straits Times
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Also by The Straits Times
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2026-10-05 · The Straits Times
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2026-10-05 · The Straits Times
Trump approval at record low; Hispanic voters sour on Republicans, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 1363 articles by The Straits Times →

Topics

Iran Republicans Reuters Reuters/Ipsos WASHINGTON

Subjects

Republicans NORP · 5× Trump PERSON · 5× Reuters/Ipsos ORG · 4× Iran GPE · 2× Reuters ORG · 2× Americans NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× WASHINGTON GPE · 1×

Narrative

Just 17 per cent of respondents in the new poll approved of his handling of the cost of living - the top issue Americans say will determine how they vote in the Nov 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-21
🔮 Just 17 per cent of respondents in the new poll approved of his handling of the cost of living - the top issue Americans say will determine how they vote in the Nov 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities.
2026-09-21 · The Straits Times
Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds · assertive framing

Claims (11 extracted, 0 hedged)

Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds WASHINGTON - asserted
poll → fall → %
President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell to 32 per cent - the lowest of his political career - as his fellow Republicans soured on his handling of the cost of living amid the unpopular Iran war, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. asserted
poll → fall → war
The four-day poll, which closed on Sept 20, showed 73 per cent of Republicans approved of Trump’s job performance, down from 82 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll a week earlier. asserted
cent → close → poll
His overall approval stood at 35 per cent that week. asserted
approval → stand → cent
Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 on promises to tame inflation and end foreign wars. asserted
Trump → return → wars
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the hours after he was first sworn in, he enjoyed a 47 per cent approval rate. asserted
he → conduct → rate
Just 17 per cent of respondents in the new poll approved of his handling of the cost of living - the top issue Americans say will determine how they vote in the Nov 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities. asserted
Republicans → approve → majorities
Dissatisfaction among Republicans on the subject has been growing since Trump launched the war on Iran in February that has pushed gasoline and diesel prices sharply higher. asserted
that → grow → prices
Now for the first time, Republicans who disapprove of Trump’s handling of the cost of living outnumber those who give him a thumbs up - 51 per cent to 44 per cent. asserted
who → disapprove → thumbs
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online and gathered 1,277 responses from US adults nationwide. asserted
poll → conduct → adults
It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. asserted
It → have → points
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