Stay on top of the latest Trump developments with The Herald Business's daily briefing on global affairs.

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday. [AP]
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday. [AP]

US President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he returned to power.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found that 33 percent of respondents approved of Trump's job performance.

That is the lowest figure recorded since Trump returned to the White House in January last year. The survey was conducted from Aug. 14 to Aug. 17. The result marks a 2 percentage-point drop from 35 percent in a poll conducted earlier this month.

Some 64 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Trump's job performance.

Americans expressed particular concern about the prospect of a prolonged war with Iran.

Eighty percent of respondents expected US involvement in the war with Iran to continue for an extended period.

Among Democratic voters, 87 percent anticipated a long war, as did 71 percent of Republican voters.

Only 16 percent believed the war would end within a matter of weeks.

Trump has said that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is worth accepting higher gasoline prices, but public opinion on the war remains negative.

Just 20 percent of Americans in the poll said the war with Iran was worth fighting.

Discontent over a prolonged war and rising prices is expected to weigh on Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections.

In the poll, 38 percent of respondents said the Democratic Party would handle economic issues better, compared with 35 percent who chose the Republican Party — a 3 percentage-point gap.

Reuters noted that voters had not given Democrats an edge over Republicans on economic matters in roughly a decade.

The gap between the two parties has also narrowed sharply on immigration, an issue where Republicans have traditionally held an advantage.

Forty percent of registered voters said Republican immigration policy was preferable, compared with 38 percent who favored the Democratic Party's approach — a margin of just 2 percentage points.

In January last year, Republicans led Democrats on immigration by 26 percentage points.

The poll surveyed 1,166 American adults online and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com