Nearly three-quarters of likely voters disapprove of how President Donald Trump has handled gas prices, with the midterm elections 13 days away and his overall approval rating at the lowest point of his second term.
A New York Times/Siena University poll found that 73 percent of likely voters disapprove of Trump's handling of gas prices, compared with 24 percent who approve. The poll surveyed 3,494 voters October 12-19.
No issue in the poll scored worse for the president, and the frustration runs well past Democrats: 77 percent of independents disapprove, along with 42 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of people who voted for him in 2024.
Disapproval hit 91 percent among voters under 30. Hispanic voters, who shifted toward Trump two years ago, disapprove 79 percent to 17 percent.
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Overall, 36 percent of likely voters approve of Trump's job performance and 59 percent disapprove. His approval among registered voters is 34 percent, 3 points below the September Times/Siena poll and the lowest he has recorded in the series. In September 2025, it stood at 43 percent.
Nate Cohn, the Times' chief political analyst, wrote that the figure is the lowest approval rating for any president heading into the midterms since Harry Truman in 1946, when Democrats lost control of both chambers of Congress. Truman stood at 33 percent in Gallup's polling that year.
"Mr. Trump’s low ratings look just as dangerous for Republicans in the broader context of historical approval ratings heading into midterms. The president’s party almost always fares poorly in midterm elections, but especially when the president’s approval rating is low," Cohn wrote.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.
Economy, Cost of Living and Iran Weigh on President
Sixty-four percent of voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, up from 53 percent in the September 2025 survey, when 44 percent approved.
Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas, told Newsweek that the cost of living, gas and diesel prices, housing and healthcare are all piling up on his party.
"That's all weighing on Republicans," he said.
The broader economic outlook is also bleak: 75 percent rate national economic conditions as fair or poor, including 51 percent who called them poor.
In questions asked of half the sample, 69 percent disapproved of his handling of the cost of living and 61 percent disapproved of his handling of tariffs. Sixty-five percent disapproved of his handling of the war in Iran, which other surveys have also found weighing on Republicans heading into Election Day on November 3.
Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the centrist think tank Third Way, put the blame squarely on the White House.
"No one thinks the economy is good today and they rightfully blame the president because the tariffs and Iran War were his ideas alone," Kessler told Newsweek.
Cohn compared the political environment to 2006, when President George W. Bush's approval sank amid a war in the Middle East, rising gas prices and corruption allegations against Republicans in Washington. Democrats won both chambers that November, including Senate seats in Republican-leaning states.
"The poll offers no reason to think that Republicans have stopped the bleeding, let alone made progress toward winning back their usual supporters," Cohn wrote.
Voters in the new survey trust Democrats over Republicans on every issue polled. The widest gaps came on healthcare, where Democrats lead by 20 points, and the cost of living, where they lead by 15. Democrats also hold double-digit advantages on gas prices, corruption, artificial intelligence and data centers, and foreign wars, and an 8-point edge on the economy.
Nearly half of voters surveyed, 47 percent, said they would rather vote for a candidate who wants to provide a check on Trump, compared with 22 percent who prefer a candidate who supports him. Twenty-seven percent said it does not matter either way.
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Trump, GOP Approval Rating Flips With Voters on Immigration
Immigration, the issue that helped carry Trump back to the White House, is now a liability for him and his party, according to the Times/Siena poll.
Likely voters disapprove of his handling of the issue 57 percent to 42 percent, and the intensity is on the other side: 49 percent strongly disapprove, 34 percent strongly approve.
On which party they trust more to handle immigration, Democrats came out ahead, 50 percent to 46 percent.
The numbers have slipped since a Times/Siena poll in September 2025, when 46 percent of registered voters approved of Trump's immigration record and 52 percent disapproved. The share who strongly disapprove has climbed 6 points since then.
Immigration is still his best-rated issue in the new poll, about 6 points better than his overall approval and 15 points underwater all the same.
Independents disapprove 61 percent to 37 percent and prefer Democrats on the issue by 8 points. Among Hispanic voters, the gap is wider: 67 percent disapprove, and Democrats lead on trust by 27 points. Disapproval among voters under 30 has climbed to 79 percent, from 68 percent in September 2025.
Republicans retain a strong edge with white voters without a college degree, who trust the GOP on immigration 61 percent to 36 percent.
In November 2024, a Pew Research Center survey found 53 percent of Americans trusted Trump on immigration.
Democrats Lead, but Their Party Brand Remains Weak
Democrats lead the national House ballot 52 percent to 41 percent when voters are asked about the specific candidates in their district. Cohn noted that no party has won the national House vote by that margin since Democrats in 2008, a wider lead than most polling averages have shown on the generic ballot this cycle.
Democrats are widely expected to regain control of the House, but their prospects in the Senate remain less certain. They lead by 5 points in combined Senate races and by 11 points in gubernatorial races.
Former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, warned her party against misreading the lead.
"I think that the Democrats shouldn't get too cozy about saying that people are selecting the Democratic Party," she told Newsweek. "I think they're rejecting the party of Donald Trump."
The advantage has come without a rebound in how voters view the Democratic Party, a pattern other polls have also picked up. Seventy percent said they are dissatisfied with the party, compared with 63 percent for Republicans. Half of likely voters said Democrats are too far to the left, while 51 percent said Republicans are too far to the right.
Cohn, echoing cautions from other pollsters, said surveys often overestimate Democratic support. That was the case in 2016 and 2020, as well as in key red states in 2018. He also pointed to a turnout split in the data: Democrats lead by 9 points among registered voters with a record of voting in a past midterm or primary, and by 14 points among those who say they are at least very likely to vote or have already cast a ballot.
"Every Democrat should be running like they are 10 points behind," Doug Gordon, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of UpShift Strategies, told Newsweek.
Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, meaning Democrats need a net gain of four to take control.
Other Polls Find Trump at Record Lows
Reuters/Ipsos found an even lower number for the president. Its poll, which closed Monday, put Trump's approval at 31 percent, the lowest of either of his terms, with 66 percent disapproving. Registered voters in that survey favored Democrats for Congress 47 percent to 35 percent.
CNN's poll with SSRS, taken October 15-18, had Trump at 32 percent approval and 67 percent disapproval among adults. The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted October 9-13 landed at 33 percent, a record low in that series, though likely voters were a bit warmer at 38 percent. Seven in 10 respondents said gasoline was becoming unaffordable.
Fox News, polling registered voters October 9-12, found 36 percent approval for Trump. The Pew Research Center's survey from late September and early October came in lowest of all, at 30 percent. CBS News and YouGov, at 39 percent, were the most favorable major poll this month, according to CNN's tracker.
The averages have followed. Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin put Trump at a net approval of -24.3 on Wednesday, a new low and 2 points worse than a week earlier. At this point in his first term, Gallup had Trump at 43 percent approval.
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Dave Siminoff.