Voter Disapproval of Trump Economy Hits 58 Per Cent in FT Poll

Nearly 58 per cent of registered US voters disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living, according to a Financial Times poll conducted by Focaldata, with majority disapproval also registered on his management of jobs, the economy and the Iran conflict roughly six months before the November 2026 midterm elections.

The survey of 3,167 registered voters, fielded online between 1 and 5 May with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points, found that just over 50 per cent disapproved of Trump’s handling of jobs and the economy. More than 54 per cent said they disapproved of his overall job performance, against just over 39 per cent who approved. A clear majority, 55 per cent, said the president’s tariffs had hurt the US economy, while about one-quarter said the trade measures had helped.

On the conflict with Iran, almost 54 per cent of voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war, compared with just under one-third who approved. The discontent crossed party lines: roughly one in five Republicans said they disapproved of the president’s stewardship of the conflict. The poll found broad concern about the economic spillovers, with US petrol prices averaging $4.60 per gallon in the week the survey closed, an increase of almost 50 per cent since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February.

Consumer sentiment has already hit a record low as rising fuel costs eclipse strong employment data. The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has kept global energy markets volatile, and the FT poll suggests voters are connecting the geopolitical instability directly to their household budgets.

The findings point to a widening political liability for the White House. Democrats held an eight-point advantage over Republicans among all registered voters in the poll. More than 58 per cent of independents said they had an unfavourable view of Trump. The margins suggest a contested midterm cycle in which control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate will be at stake, with the president’s party historically losing ground in a first-term midterm.

The White House pushed back through spokesman Kush Desai, who responded to the poll findings by arguing the administration had put the country “on a solid economic trajectory” and projected that “gas prices plummet, real wages grow, [and] inflation cool[s]” once the disruption to energy markets from the Strait of Hormuz closure eases. Desai did not address the tariff findings or the specific approval numbers directly.

The FT poll is the latest in a series of surveys showing voter discontent with the president’s economic stewardship. Its fieldwork closed days before the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index registered its lowest reading on record, continuing a run of data in which rising living costs are outweighing robust job creation in shaping voter attitudes. With control of Congress on the line and the president’s approval underwater across independents, the poll suggests the economy, rather than foreign policy or culture-war issues, will be the dominant issue of the 2026 campaign.