“Arguably, Trump’s unpopularity is largely a problem of his own making,” says Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll. “Huge majorities of Americans say that Trump is not handling the war in Iran (68%), inflation (75%) and jobs (63%) well. Of course, these issues are related—Trump’s choice to attack Iran, and subsequent mismanagement of the conflict, have contributed materially to inflation and the soft economy. Moreover, his decisions to take gifts from foreign nations and profit from various businesses while in office appear to have led many Americans to express concerns about corruption in his presidency, as fully two-thirds of Americans (67%) say he hasn’t handled corruption in government well. Although presidential approval predictably decays over time, Trump’s own decisions have likely made this problem worse than it would otherwise be.”“While a candidate for president in 2024, Trump consistently promised Americans that he, unlike Joe Biden, would tackle the nation’s affordability crisis head-on and begin lowering inflation on day one of his presidency,” Nteta says. “A little more than a year and a half into his presidency, however, Americans continue to experience rising costs for groceries, gas, utilities, health care, and housing, with inflation now higher than when Biden left office. Americans have taken note, giving Trump low marks for his handling of inflation, with a whopping 75% indicating that he has not handled inflation well during his time in office. If the 2026 midterm election becomes a referendum on the economy and the nation’s affordability crisis, the Republican Party could be facing a serious threat to its control of both houses of Congress.”