Trump's Approval Hit 36%. The Share of Republicans Who 'Strongly Approve' Fell 11 Points.
A new NBC News Decision Desk poll of 7,105 adults found that 69% of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the war in Iran. Republicans have not left him — but the intensity behind their support is draining away with the midterms 58 days out.
President Donald Trump's job approval rating has fallen to 36 percent, the lowest mark NBC News has recorded in his second term, according to a Decision Desk poll released this weekend. The survey of 7,105 adults was conducted between August 20 and September 1 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
The clearest source of the drag is the war in Iran. Thirty-one percent of Americans said they approve of the way Trump has handled the conflict; 69 percent said they disapprove. That is a two-to-one split against a president whose party controls both chambers of Congress and who has spent much of the summer defending the operation as necessary and contained.
The number that will worry Republican strategists most is not the topline. It is the intensity. In March and April, 52 percent of Republicans told NBC pollsters they strongly approved of Trump's job performance, against 31 percent who said they only somewhat approved. In the new survey, strong approval among Republicans has dropped to 41 percent while soft approval has climbed to 39 percent. Overall Republican approval of Trump remains high — 80 percent, and 93 percent among self-identified MAGA supporters — so this is not defection. It is deflation.
On the war specifically, the erosion is steeper. The share of Republicans who strongly approve of Trump's handling of Iran fell 18 points since the spring, to 30 percent. Among MAGA Republicans the drop was 21 points, to 43 percent. A voter who somewhat approves still tells a pollster he approves. He is considerably less likely to knock doors, write a check, or stand in line on a Tuesday in November.
The election is November 3. Midterm turnout is an enthusiasm business, and the party out of the White House usually supplies the enthusiasm. A White House statement responding to the poll made no concession on the war's popularity, arguing instead that "what matters most to the American people is having a Commander in Chief who takes bold action to keep them safe."
Other surveys this summer pointed the same direction. An Associated Press-NORC poll of 3,040 adults in June put approval of Trump's handling of Iran at 34 percent, with 53 percent saying the administration had gone too far. A Quinnipiac University survey of 963 registered voters taken July 23 to 27, with a 4.1-point margin of error, found 34 percent supported the military action and 60 percent opposed it; 66 percent said the war was not worth fighting.
Gas prices are the other thread running through the numbers, and they show how differently the two parties are experiencing the same economy. An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,559 adults taken July 25 to 27 found 60 percent of Democrats said gas prices had gone up. Among Republicans, 32 percent said so. Among MAGA supporters, 26 percent did.
Originally reported by NBC News.