US President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen slightly in recent days amid growing concern among Americans about the direction of the US economy at a time when the new US leader is threatening a number of countries with tariffs, Reuters reported, citing a new sociological survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, BTA writes.
The survey conducted over a period of 6 days, which ended this week, showed that 44% of respondents approve of the job Trump is doing as president, which is a drop from 45% in the Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted from January 24 to 26. Trump's approval rating was 47% in the first poll on Jan. 20-21, taken in the hours after the Republican returned to the White House.
The share of Americans who disapprove of his presidency has increased even more significantly - to 51% in the latest survey - compared to 41% immediately after he took office, Reuters notes.
Trump enjoys relatively high approval ratings on his immigration policy, with 47% of respondents supporting his approach, which includes promises to increase deportations of immigrants in the United States illegally. That share is little changed from January.
But the share of respondents who believe the U.S. economy is on the wrong track has increased to 53% in the latest survey, compared to 43% in the previous one from Jan. 24-26. Public approval of Trump's economic performance has fallen to 39% from 43% in the previous survey.
The mainstay of Trump's political strength is the public's belief that his policies will be good for the economy, and his approval rating on the economy remains significantly higher than the final results of his predecessor in office, Democrat Joe Biden, who finished his term with a 34% approval rating on the economy. But Trump's approval rating on the economy is well below the 53% he had in a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in February 2017. after the first full month of his first term as US president, Reuters recalls.
The latest poll also found that just 32% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of inflation, a possible early sign of disappointment with the Republican's performance on a key economic issue after years of rising prices weakened Biden's position ahead of last year's presidential election. Trump defeated Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, in the Electoral College and narrowly won the popular vote.
A recent report from the US Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose by the most in nearly a year and a half in January, with Americans facing higher costs for a range of goods and services. Other economic data showed that U.S. households expect inflation to rise after Trump announced steep tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1.
Although the tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada were later postponed until March, Trump set March 12 as the start date for other tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and ordered his team to develop global reciprocal tariffs.
About 54% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said they opposed new tariffs on imported goods from other countries, while 41% supported them. The increase in tariffs on Chinese goods enjoys higher support - 49% are "in favor" and 47% - "against".
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online, surveyed 4,145 U.S. adults nationwide, with a margin of error of about 2 percentage points in either direction, Reuters added.
Trump's declining approval rating is also the subject of a large-scale sociological survey on issues such as U.S. territorial expansion, the war between Russia and Ukraine and overall approval of his foreign policy, announced last night in the "Polapalusa" section of periodic public opinion polls on the American television "ABC News".
Sympathy for the residents of the Gaza Strip has increased since the war began
In the 2024 election, Donald Trump capitalized on the anger of some Democrats over US support for Israel in its more than 16-month-long war with the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas". Although Trump championed Israel's interests in the region during his first term, a contingent of pro-Palestinian voters have ended their support for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris because of their support for Israel, and many of them may have decided to stay home or even vote for Trump.
However, these voters may not be very happy with Trump now, "ABC News" commented.
During the election campaign last year, Trump promised to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even more strongly than Biden, and Jared Kushner, the US president's adviser and son-in-law, speculated that the Gaza Strip's coastline could become valuable real estate. Now Trump has fulfilled some of his campaign promises by doubling down on his support for Israel.
Netanyahu was one of the first foreign heads of state to visit Trump, and during their meeting, President Trump suggested that the US "take over" the Gaza Strip and forcibly relocate all Palestinians - a position he has since repeated, while also calling Gaza a "blighted place" or a "big piece of real estate."
Trump's idea of a US "takeover" was praised by Netanyahu but condemned by experts as a violation of human rights. And the latest polls show that this idea is massively unpopular and could cause concern among Americans about the direction of Trump's foreign policy, notes "ABC News".
Polls show that a majority of Americans still support Israel in the conflict with "Hamas", as well as during the entire war. A poll commissioned by "Fox News" from January 10 to 13 found that 54% of registered voters side with the Israelis more than with the Palestinians, while only 32% side with the Palestinians. Another poll from late January, conducted by the research institute "Echelon Insights", based in Alexandria, one of Washington's satellite counties, found that 43% of voters side with Israel in the conflict, while only 18% side with the Palestinians, and 39% of respondents said they were unsure how to respond.
However, a growing share of Americans have come to believe that Israel's response to the October 2023 terrorist attacks was too harsh over the course of the war, while their sympathy for the Palestinians has grown, "ABC News" analysis shows.
In fact, Americans now sympathize more with the Palestinians than they have at any point since 2017, according to another new poll by the "YouGov" and the magazine. "The Economist", conducted between February 9 and 11. In this poll, 21% of respondents said they sympathized more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis in the conflict.
Although this is still less than those who sympathize more with the Israelis - 31%, it represents a continuing shift in American public opinion since the beginning of the conflict, the American television station notes.
In comparison, only 8% of Americans sided with the Palestinians when "YouGov" and "The Economist" were first asked the question in December 2017, and only 15% did so just before Trump took office in late January.
Much of this change is due to Democrats surveyed - 35% of them sympathize with the Palestinians in the latest poll, compared to 27% in the one from late January, "ABC News" commented.
In fact, 60% of Republicans in the latest poll said they sympathize more with the Israelis - about the same share as in January. Nearly 67% of Republicans also say that Trump's support for Tel Aviv in the war between Israel and "Hamas" is "about right", signaling that they approve of his approach so far.
By comparison, 12% of Democrats and 25% of self-identified independents say the same, with the majority saying Trump is "too friendly to Israel".
Despite their slightly warmer views of the Palestinians, many Americans still blame "Hamas" for civilian casualties in the Palestinian enclave. In the "Echelon Insights" survey, the majority of respondents, 44%, blame "Hamas", while 24% blame Israel and the rest are not sure.
As for the policies Americans want to see implemented, the survey by the "YuGov" Institute and "The Economist" magazine found that a majority of 35% support reducing military aid to Israel, while 27% support keeping the same amount of aid and only 15% support increasing it (a new low since the beginning of the conflict).
However, Americans are fairly united in their disagreement with Trump that the US should "take over" Gaza Strip, points out "ABC News".
In another sociological survey by the "YouGov" Institute, conducted from February 4 to 6, about 54% of American adults oppose the US taking control of the Gaza Strip, while 24% say they would support such a step (of which only 7% approve if it involves the use of military force). A poll by the left-wing think tank "Data for Progress" A February 8-9 poll showed that 62% of voters oppose the idea, while 23% support it.
But overall, Americans seem to be concerned about global stability under Trump, notes "ABC News".
Around 52% of registered voters in the United States said in another January 26 poll by "Kinnipiac" University in Connecticut that they are skeptical that the peace agreement being negotiated by Israel and "Hamas" will hold.
A separate survey by the "YouGov" and CBS News, conducted from February 5 to 7, about 45% of Americans say that Trump's policies will reduce peace and stability in the world, 40% say that it will increase them, and the rest believe that it will have no effect.
Americans do not want the United States to acquire new territories
Gaza, of course, is not the only foreign territory that Trump has expressed interest in acquiring. He has also said that the United States should conquer Greenland, the Panama Canal and all of Canada, commented ABC News.
Each of these proposals is also unpopular among Americans, according to a number of sociological surveys by the public opinion research institutes RMG Research and Napolitano News Service, the think tank Data for Progress and the "SouthGov" institute.
In fact, Americans are quite divided on the issue of returning control of the Panama Canal - they oppose it by a narrow margin of 43% "for" and 41% "against". But they are more firmly opposed to acquiring Greenland (46% to 34%) and are especially strongly opposed to the idea of annexing Canada (57% to 30%).
In all of these cases, Republicans are the group that most supports acquiring new territories. On average, 67% of Republicans want the United States to acquire the Panama Canal, 54% want Greenland, and 45% want Canada.
This may be surprising, since the share of Republicans who think it is best for the United States to take an "active role" in world affairs has recently declined - from 69% in 2019 to 54% in 2024. But perhaps with Trump's return to the White House, Republicans again want to see the United States dominate the world stage, notes "ABC News".
Americans still support Ukraine in the war with Russia
The war between Israel and "Hamas" is not the only foreign conflict that Trump inherited from Biden. Trump has promised to quickly end Russia's almost 3-year war against Ukraine. But his approach has alarmed many U.S. allies, as the U.S. administration has recently begun talks with Moscow and signaled it is open to peace talks that could potentially embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and sideline Ukraine, ABC News reported.
This is a shift not only from U.S. policy under former President Joe Biden, but also from the outcome most Americans say they want.
Americans have been sympathetic to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country three years ago. A strong bipartisan majority of Americans, about 70%, believe that the United States should call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine that "would ensure Ukrainian security," according to a December 13-15 Ipsos poll.
Meanwhile, another poll by the American company Morning Consult in December found that while more Americans (and Europeans) believe the war could end soon, 47% of them believe that the United States should not force Ukraine to make territorial concessions, even if that means prolonging the war.
Of course, there are always limits to what Americans think the U.S. should do to help Ukraine. About 58 percent of respondents in an Ipsos poll said the U.S. could not afford to take any military action in Ukraine, and a Pew Research Center poll found that a growing percentage of Americans believe that as the war has progressed, the U.S. has spent too much on supporting Ukraine.
Not surprisingly, this divide has grown particularly along party lines. In the Pew Research Center poll, conducted from February 3 to 9, a 47 percent majority of Republicans said the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine, while a 35 percent majority of Democrats think Washington is not providing enough support.
The Morning Consult poll however, it shows that Americans have actually become more willing to help Ukraine in some form. Compared to October 2023, when only 15% of respondents in the Morning Consult poll expressed the opinion that the United States is not doing enough to help Ukraine, in December last year 22% said that not enough funds are being allocated.
According to a sociological survey by the "538" Institute on the approval of the US president as of 12:00 p.m. local time on February 19, about 49.1% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance in office, while 45.8% disapprove (a net approval of plus 3.3 points).
On January 24, the date on which enough polls were first released to calculate his average approval rating, about 49.7% of Americans approved of Trump's job performance, while 41.5% disapproved (a net approval rating of plus 8.2 points).
In other words, Trump is becoming increasingly unpopular among Americans, commented ABC News. Although the share of people who approve of his job performance has remained relatively stable for now, these figures show that some people are moving away from their approval ratings for him.
This makes Trump the second most unpopular president at this stage of his presidential term since at least the 1950s, the American television network notes.
Most new US presidents have had a so-called honeymoon period, which has left them significantly more popular than Trump is now in his first month in office. The only US president who has not experienced such a "honeymoon" is Trump himself - during his first term.
On February 19, 2017, Trump's average approval rating was 43.0%, and the average disapproval rating was 49.8% (minus 6.8 points). For comparison, on February 19, 2021 Former President Joe Biden's average approval rating was 54.7%, and his disapproval rating was 36.8% (up 17.9 points), ABC News concluded.