Donald Trump's approval rating is at a record low.
Trump Approval Rating Falls So Low It Breaks Pollster’s Graph
May 1 2026, Updated 3:05 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump’s approval rating on inflation and the cost of living has fallen sharply. It has dropped below the scale of a pollster’s issue-tracking graph, according to new polling data from Strength In Numbers and Verasight.
Pollster G. Elliott Morris shared the chart on Thursday. It shows Trump’s standing across several issues, including immigration, deportations, trade, health care, civil rights, democracy, and inflation. The cost-of-living line fell below every other category.
Pollster is stunned by Trump's approval rating.
“Trump literally broke the scale of this graph on my data portal,” Morris wrote, as reported by The Daily Beast. As of April 30, Trump’s approval rating on inflation and the cost of living was at negative 40.3 points, the outlet reported.
This figure adds to a tough period of polling for Trump, who returned to office in January 2025 after campaigning heavily on cutting prices and improving household finances.
This issue has become one of his weakest areas with voters as gas prices and other household costs continue to burden Americans.
A separate poll from Strength In Numbers/Verasight, conducted from April 10 to 14, found that 35% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s overall job performance, while 61% disapproved. His net approval in that poll was negative 26, a new low for the survey.
The same poll found Trump’s net approval on prices and inflation at negative 46, the worst rating recorded on any issue in the survey’s history. Twenty-six percent of Americans approved of his handling of prices, while 72% disapproved.
Reuters/Ipsos polling released this week showed similar weakness. The four-day poll, completed on Monday, found that 34% of Americans approved of Trump’s performance as president, down from 36% in a previous Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted from April 15 to 20.
Trump’s approval has declined since the start of his second term, when 47% of Americans approved of his performance, according to Reuters.
Only 22% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll approved of his handling of the cost of living, down from 25% in the previous survey.
Rising gasoline prices have added more pressure. Reuters reported that U.S. gasoline prices have risen over 40% to about $4.18 a gallon since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, which disrupted oil supplies.
Trump still has strong support among Republicans. However, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found signs of weakness within his party regarding affordability. Seventy-eight percent of Republicans said they supported Trump, but 41% disapproved of his handling of the cost of living.
Trump is currently very unpopular across many polls.
The cost-of-living numbers come just months before the November midterm elections, which will be crucial for control of Congress.
Reuters/Ipsos found that independent registered voters favored Democrats over Republicans by 34% to 20% in congressional races, while one in four remained undecided.
The White House defended Trump’s record in a statement to The Daily Beast.
“The ultimate poll was November 5, 2024, when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the outlet.
Ingle stated that Trump was “working tirelessly to create jobs, cool inflation, increase housing affordability, and more,” adding that the president had made “historic progress” and that his agenda was still taking effect.