United States President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have fallen to a record low, a sign that Americans angry about rising living costs amid the deeply unpopular US-Israel war on Iran could punish his party at the upcoming midterm elections. Most Americans are unhappy with Trump’s performance, according to a /Ipsos poll published on Monday, with more people saying they plan to vote for Democrats on November 3. Sitting US presidents have traditionally seen a dip in approval ratings around the midterms, and that has often coincided with their parties losing seats in Congress.
With Trump’s ratings lower than any of his predecessors, experts say Democrats could reach their goal of flipping both the US House of Representatives and the Senate in the congressional vote. All 435 districts in the House and 33 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election. Republicans currently hold a slim majority of 218-214 seats in the House, and are also leading in the Senate, with a 53-47 majority.
However, Democrats are campaigning hard to seize majorities in both houses, a scenario that could prove a major headache for Trump. Here’s what the latest polls might mean for these elections: About 31 percent of Americans polled by /Ipsos said they were happy with Trump’s performance – the lowest-ever figure during Trump’s two terms as president. Two weeks earlier, the number stood at 32 percent.
When asked which party they would vote for if the midterms were held today, 47 percent chose Democrats, while 35 percent opted for Republicans. That represents a 12-point advantage for the Democrats, the widest ever in the current cycle, and is up from the seven-point lead two weeks ago. The slide in support for Republicans came from the growing number of women choosing Democrats – about half of those polled.
More voters – 40 percent – also said Democrats were better at managing the economy, compared with 33 percent who selected Republicans. The polls, which canvassed 1,679 adults, are a generic ballot providing an overview of voter sentiment, but not a state-by-state breakdown, meaning the results could still be surprising. The president and party in charge of the White House usually face some backlash in the midterms.
Supporters of the non-presidential party are often more motivated to vote in the midterms than their counterparts, according to the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. The think tank also found that in 12 of the past 20 midterm elections since 1946, the sitting president’s approval ratings worsened between July and November, the months just before the elections. Only in seven instances did approval ratings improve, while in one case, during the 2006 elections under President George W Bush, the president’s approval ratings stayed the same.
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