Trump Approval Rating Stuck at 32% After Midterm Defeat — Near the Lowest of His Career

Donald Trump’s approval rating is stuck at 32%, close to the lowest level of his political career, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday, 9 November 2026. The result comes less than a week after his Republican Party lost control of both chambers of the US Congress in the midterm elections — and it shows no sign that the defeat has changed how Americans feel about the president.

The poll found that only 32% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in the White House. That number is unchanged from the two previous Reuters/Ipsos polls, conducted in late October and early November. It is just one percentage point higher than the 31% recorded in mid-October, which was the lowest rating of his career in politics.

In simple terms: roughly two out of every three Americans do not approve of the job Trump is doing. And the number has barely moved for weeks, even after one of the biggest election defeats his party has suffered in years.

What the poll found

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online across the United States from 6 to 9 November 2026. It gathered responses from 1,705 US adults, with a margin of error of about two percentage points. That means the true figure could be a couple of points higher or lower, but the overall picture is clear.

Here are the key numbers:

• Overall approval: 32%. Unchanged from the two previous Reuters/Ipsos polls.
• Career low: 31%. Recorded in mid-October 2026.
• Cost of living: 21%. Only about one in five Americans approve of how Trump is handling the cost of living.
• The economy: 25%. Just one in four approve of his management of the economy.
• Immigration: 38%. His strongest area — but still well below half.

The gap between those numbers tells the story of Trump’s presidency right now. Immigration is the one issue where he still holds relatively strong support. On the issues that decide most elections — prices, bills and jobs — his ratings are much worse.

The cost of living problem

The poll makes clear what is dragging Trump’s numbers down: money. Americans are worried about rising prices, and they blame the president.

Only 21% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living. That is the weakest of all the areas measured in the poll. By comparison, 25% approve of his stewardship of the economy as a whole — still very low, but four points better than his cost-of-living score.

Reuters linked the pressure on household finances to the war on Iran, which began in February 2026. The conflict has pushed fuel prices sharply higher, and that has fed through into the cost of everyday goods. When petrol and diesel cost more, transport costs more, and food and other essentials follow.

The problem has also hurt Trump’s allies in Congress. The same concerns about prices that damaged the president’s standing helped drive voters away from Republican candidates in the midterms.

A split inside his own party

The poll also revealed a striking split among Republican voters themselves. Among Republicans, 81% supported Trump’s approach to immigration. But only 50% approved of his handling of the cost of living.

That is a 31-point gap inside his own base. It means that even among the people most likely to support him, half are unhappy with how he is dealing with prices. For a president who built his political brand on promises to make life cheaper for ordinary Americans, that is a serious warning sign.

The midterm defeat behind the numbers

The poll was completed just six days after the midterm elections on 3 November 2026, in which Trump’s Republican Party suffered what Reuters described as a “staggering defeat”, losing control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Democrats scored their biggest victory in the House since at least 2008, and flipped Senate seats in states that are usually safe for Republicans — including Kansas, South Carolina and Texas. Some races were still undecided when the poll was published, but the overall result was already clear: voters had delivered a historic rebuke.

The midterm result and the approval rating are connected. In American politics, midterm elections are often treated as a verdict on the sitting president. When a president’s approval rating is low, his party usually loses seats. At 32%, Trump’s rating was low enough to cost his party both chambers.

Other polls tell a similar story, even if the exact numbers differ:

• Economist/YouGov, released on Saturday 7 November, put Trump’s approval at 36% — down three points from its previous survey on 29 October, and the lowest in that poll since late September. That survey covered 3,166 registered voters from 4 to 6 November, with a margin of error of 2.2 points.
• RealClearPolitics average, as of Monday 9 November, put Trump’s approval at 38.9% against 59.2% disapproval.
• The New York Times polling average showed Trump at 37% approval and 60% disapproval.
• Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin average had him at 37.8% approval and 59.1% disapproval.

Different polls use different methods, so their numbers are never identical. But they all point in the same direction: Trump is deeply unpopular, with roughly six in ten Americans disapproving of his performance.

What happens next: confrontation, not compromise

If anyone expected the midterm defeat to soften Trump’s approach, the early signs point the other way. Last week, Trump promoted Stephen Miller — one of the architects of his hardline immigration policies — to White House chief of staff, the most powerful job in the West Wing after the president himself.

Miller, 41, is a very different figure from the outgoing chief of staff, Susie Wiles, a former lobbyist who ran Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Miller joined Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016 and has served throughout both of his terms. He is regarded by allies and critics alike as a combative loyalist with a deep knowledge of how to use the powers of government — and he has overseen many of Trump’s executive orders.

Administration officials and other Republicans told Reuters that the appointment signals Trump plans to ramp up confrontation in the final two years of his presidency: continuing the aggressive immigration crackdown, amplifying cultural conflicts, and giving no ground to a Democratic-controlled Congress.

Democrats prepare investigations

Democrats, who take control of Congress in January, are already planning how to use their new power. California Representative Robert Garcia, who is in line to chair the powerful House Oversight Committee, said on Sunday that investigations will focus on two figures: tech billionaire Elon Musk and the newly appointed chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

Garcia called Miller the architect of a “horrific, unjust” immigration policy and said his role at the centre of the administration’s biggest decisions deserved oversight and investigation.

Hakeem Jeffries, who will become Speaker of the House in January, said on Sunday that Democrats would support a measure to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Attorney General Todd Blanche signalled the same day that the Trump administration was prepared to fight the Democrats in Congress.

The immigration crackdown itself has become widely unpopular. It included operations in which two people were fatally shot in Minnesota by federal agents. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October found that only 37% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of immigration — down from 50% when he took office. That figure has since risen slightly to 38% in the latest poll, but it remains far below where it started.

Why this matters

Approval ratings are not just numbers on a chart. They shape what a president can and cannot do.

A president with low approval finds it harder to push laws through Congress, harder to persuade members of his own party to follow him, and harder to win over the public on big decisions. With Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress, Trump will need their votes to pass anything at all — and his 32% approval rating gives him very little leverage.

The numbers also matter for the future of the Republican Party. Trump is in the final two years of his presidency and cannot run again. But the party will have to decide whether to keep following his approach or move in a new direction. The midterm results — and the polls behind them — suggest that the current approach cost them dearly.

There is also a practical question: can the numbers recover? Presidents have bounced back from low ratings before, usually when the economy improves or a crisis makes people rally behind them. But Trump’s rating has been flat at 32% across three consecutive polls, and the cost-of-living figure of 21% suggests the problem is rooted in everyday experience — the price of food, fuel and bills — rather than a single event that might fade.

For now, the message from the American public is clear. They are unhappy with the cost of living, unimpressed with the economy, and they used the midterm elections to say so. The president’s response — promoting one of his most combative allies to run the White House — suggests the next two years will be a fight, not a reset.

Frequently asked questions

What is Trump’s approval rating now?

According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, completed on 9 November 2026, 32% of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s performance as president. That is one percentage point above his career low of 31%, recorded in mid-October 2026.

How was the poll conducted?

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online across the United States from 6 to 9 November 2026. It surveyed 1,705 US adults and has a margin of error of about two percentage points.

Why is Trump’s approval rating so low?

The main reason is the cost of living. Only 21% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of prices, and only 25% approve of his management of the economy. The war on Iran, which began in February 2026, has pushed fuel prices sharply higher and weighed on household finances.

What was the result of the 2026 midterm elections?

On 3 November 2026, the Republican Party lost control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats scored their biggest House victory since at least 2008 and flipped Senate seats in Kansas, South Carolina and Texas.

Who is Stephen Miller?

Stephen Miller, 41, is Trump’s newly appointed White House chief of staff. He joined Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016, helped design the administration’s immigration policies, and has overseen many of its executive orders. Democrats plan to investigate his role when they take control of Congress in January.

Is immigration Trump’s strongest issue?

Yes — relatively speaking. His approval rating on immigration is 38%, higher than his ratings on the economy (25%) and the cost of living (21%). But 38% is still well below half, and it has fallen from 50% when he took office.

Conclusion

Donald Trump’s approval rating is stuck at 32%, near the lowest of his career, and it has not moved across three consecutive polls. Americans are most unhappy about the cost of living, where only 21% approve of his handling of the issue. The midterm elections turned that unhappiness into a historic defeat for his party, which lost both chambers of Congress.

Trump’s answer has been to double down: promoting Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration crackdown, to chief of staff, and preparing for confrontation with the incoming Democratic Congress. Democrats, meanwhile, are preparing investigations into Miller and Elon Musk, and support impeaching the defence secretary.

With two years left in his presidency, a Democratic Congress, and approval ratings near rock bottom, Trump faces the hardest stretch of his political career. Whether he can recover depends largely on one thing: whether ordinary Americans start to feel that life is getting cheaper. Right now, the polls say they do not.

Sources

• Reuters, “Trump approval holds at 32%, near lowest of his career, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds”, 9 November 2026: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-approval-holds-32-near-lowest-his-career-reuters-ipsos-poll-finds-2026-11-09/
• USA Today, “Trump approval rating holds near career low in latest poll”, 9 November 2026: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/09/trump-approval-rating-one-point-above-career-low-reuters-ipsos-poll/92697888007/
• USA Today, “Trump approval rating hits lowest level since September in new poll”, 9 November 2026: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/09/trump-approval-rating-hits-lowest-level-since-september/92694826007/
• Reuters, “Democrats eye Musk, Miller probes after midterm rout”, 8 November 2026: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/democrats-eye-musk-miller-probes-after-midterm-rout-2026-11-08/
• Reuters, “With Stephen Miller at the helm, Trump charts a course for conflict”, 8 November 2026: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/with-stephen-miller-helm-trump-charts-course-conflict-2026-11-08/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.