Trump Approval at 32% Near Record Low as He Ends Midterm Push Talking Pools and Paint

Photo: Evan Vucci/Reuters via The Jerusalem Post

Donald Trump goes into election day with just 32 percent of Americans approving of his job as president, the final Reuters/Ipsos poll before the midterms shows. That is only one point above his record low. And on his last day of campaigning, he spent his closing speech talking about pool pipes, paint and algae, not the cost of living voters say worries them most.

Americans vote on Tuesday, 3 November, in midterm elections that will decide who controls Congress for the last two years of Trump's term. The president himself is not on the ballot. But he has told his supporters again and again to vote as if he were.

Al Jazeera reported the Reuters/Ipsos findings late on Monday: 32 percent approved of Trump's handling of the presidency, unchanged from the week before and just above the 31 percent record low he hit two weeks earlier. The poll spoke to 1,765 adults across the United States between 29 October and 2 November, with a margin of error of about two points.

The same poll shows why Republicans are nervous. Asked which party they would pick for Congress, 46 percent of registered voters chose the Democrats and 38 percent chose the Republicans. That eight point Democratic lead is smaller than the 11 point lead a week earlier, so the race has tightened a little, but the gap is still wide.

Half of the independent voters in the poll said their vote for Congress was really a vote against Trump. Only 13 percent said it was a vote for him. Trump has warned that if Democrats take Congress, they may try to impeach him for a third time.

His numbers have slid steadily since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran on 28 February. Reuters reported that energy prices have jumped 20 percent over the past year, and voters in the poll named the cost of living as their top concern. It is a hard backdrop for any sitting president, and it helps explain why even his own strategists wanted him to talk about kitchen table issues on the campaign trail.

He did something else instead. On Monday afternoon, Trump wrapped up a month of campaigning with a 54 minute speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, a speech the White House billed as his closing argument to voters. He spent most of it on his renovation projects for the capital: the pool's new bubblers and pipework, fresh paint, new grass, the White House helipad and a grand arch he wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery.

"It was a work of art that never worked, but now it will work," he said of the pool, according to Al Jazeera. He even joked that he would soon rename it after himself rather than after Abraham Lincoln. The pool's reopening ran months late and cost more than 10 times its first estimate, after peeling paint and algae turned its clear blue water green. His team blamed vandals, but prosecutors later dropped that case and a judge dismissed it.

Trump did seem to know the polls look bad for his party. "For some reason, the sitting president doesn't win the midterms," he said. "But we gave this a very strong shot." He has held 28 rallies in 19 states since 1 October, yet many of his speeches drifted into long asides about golf courses, the Kennedy Center and building projects.

That is the odd shape of this election. The man at the centre of it is deeply unpopular, his party trails on the national ballot, and his final pitch was about beautifying Washington. Meanwhile more than 54 million Americans had already voted before election day, eight million more than at the same point in 2022. Independent analysts still favour the Democrats to win the House, while the Senate looks closer.

What this means in plain terms is simple. If Democrats win the House, Trump's last two years get much harder: his spending plans, his building projects and his cabinet face investigations and blockages he has so far avoided. If Republicans somehow hold on, he will call it proof that the polls were wrong all along. Either way, Tuesday's result is read as a verdict on him, not just on Congress.

The story also sits next to two fights already running. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to block 20,000 California ballots on the eve of the vote, and talks with Iran in Doha ended without a breakthrough even as both sides said contact would go on. Oil prices fell sharply on Monday on hopes of more Iran talks, which may ease some of the fuel price pain voters feel.

The key numbers tell the story at a glance:

• 32 percent approve of Trump, against a 31 percent record low two weeks ago
• 46 percent back Democrats for Congress, 38 percent back Republicans
• 50 percent of independent voters say their vote is against Trump, 13 percent say it is for him
• More than 54 million early votes cast before election day

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Trump approval rating near record low on eve of US midterm elections
• The Jerusalem Post (Reuters): Donald Trump discusses White House renovations in last speech before midterms
• USA Today: Trump approval nears record low before Election Day
• ThePrint (Reuters): Trump approval near career low ahead of elections

Polls close across the United States through Tuesday night, and the first results will show whether the Democrats' lead holds or the late tightening saves the Republican majority.

#Trump #USMidterms #TrumpApproval #USElections #BreakingNews #WorldNews #PakistanNews #GlobalPolitics