Trump Approval Rating Inches Up to 32 Percent
Left 50%
Center 0%
Right 50%
1 left · 0 center · 1 right
What happened
A Reuters/Ipsos survey released Monday found that 32 percent of U.S. adults approved of President Donald Trump’s job performance and 66 percent did not. The Hill reported that this was 1 percentage point higher than the same pollster’s previous reading, which it described as a record low. In a separate Power Rankings analysis ahead of the Nov. 3, 2026, midterm elections, Fox News cited its own figures putting Trump’s approval at 36 percent, down from 44 percent in its last survey before joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran began in February.
Sourcing check · Rests on documents, no one quoted · 2 articles
No article quotes anyone; the reporting rests on poll. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 0 of 1
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: No article does.
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 1
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: poll
- Credits another outlet 0 of 1
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 1
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 27, 12:43 UTC by The Hill, naming its source. First document in the first report, from The Hill (poll).
- Not counted 1
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
A reader cannot tell whether Trump's job rating is recovering or still sliding. Left-leaning coverage reports a Reuters/Ipsos finding of 32 percent approval, framed as a rise from a record low the week before. Right-leaning coverage never mentions that survey and instead says the president's approval has fallen since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began, now at 36 percent.
Left-leaning coverage leads with the poll as the entire story, with no other national context. Right-leaning coverage folds the rating into a midterm power ranking that opens with Iran and Senate battlegrounds, not with the poll.
None of the coverage says whether the Reuters/Ipsos respondents were asked about Iran at all.
Bottom line
The Hill reports a 32 percent uptick that Fox News never prints, while Fox treats a 36 percent rating as a slide since Iran.
The receipts — 4 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Reuters/Ipsos found 32 percent of U.S. adults approve of Trump's job performance
- 66 percent of U.S. adults disagreed with Trump's job performance in the Reuters/Ipsos survey
- The Reuters/Ipsos approval figure was up 1 point from a record low the previous week
- Approval has fallen since joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began
The Left View
The Hill framed the Reuters/Ipsos movement as marginal, writing that approval “inched up by 1 point from a record low last week.” Coverage foregrounds the record-low baseline and the two-to-one gap between supporters and those who disagreed, presenting the new reading as continued deep unpopularity rather than a rebound.
The Right View
Fox News did not address the Reuters/Ipsos reading. It instead tied a decline in its own approval series to the Iran war and argued that “the president’s declining approval rating and Democratic advantages on the issues will likely deliver them the House and possibly by many seats.” It still called the Senate “a toss-up,” saying a second set of voters in Trump-won states “won’t necessarily hand Democrats the Senate” if Republicans “turn out and stay loyal to their party.” A related Fox headline said “not even sky high gas prices or the Iran war will stop Trump supporters voting MAGA.” Fox also reported that in its October survey, voters preferred Democrats on inflation, gas prices, government leadership, and the war in Iran.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is the Reuters/Ipsos topline: a 1-point rise still leaves approval near a record low, with about twice as many adults disapproving as approving. The right’s strongest argument is structural: Fox’s own post-war drop coexists with a Senate map concentrated in states Trump won by double digits, so its analysis treats a House loss as likely while treating the Senate as turnout- and loyalty-dependent. The central unresolved tension is whether national approval in the low-to-mid 30s across these surveys is decisive for the midterms as a whole, or whether geography and core MAGA turnout can split a Democratic House from a still-contested Senate.
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