By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's approval rating held at a record low in recent days, as many Hispanic voters panned his job performance and planned to spurn his Republican Party in next month's midterm elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
The six-day poll showed 32% of Americans giving a thumbs up to Trump's presidency, unchanged from a September Reuters/Ipsos survey that saw the leader's rating at the lowest of his political career.
Hispanic voters helped propel Trump to victory in the 2024 presidential contest, when he won nearly half the Hispanic vote compared with roughly one-third in the 2020 election. But support for the president has waned in recent months as Americans struggle with high inflation triggered by Trump's decision to go to war with Iran.
Just 24% of Hispanic Americans approve of Trump's performance in the White House, the lowest share in either of Trump's two presidential terms.
MANY INDEPENDENTS STILL UNDECIDED
The poll gave numerous signs that Trump's low popularity was weighing heavily on his Republican Party, with registered voters preferring Democrats over Republicans by 44% to 37% less than a month before the November 3 election. Among independents, Democrats led 37% to 21%, with 28% of independent registered voters still undecided.
Just 26% of Hispanic registered voters plan to vote Republican in the contest, which will determine control of both chambers of Congress during the last two years of Trump's current term. Some 52% of Hispanic voters plan to vote for Democrats, about double the level of support for Republicans and the largest Democratic advantage since Trump took office.
Republicans are bracing for a rough performance in the congressional elections. Many analysts have predicted Democrats will take a majority in the House of Representatives, with control of the Senate also increasingly seen as up for grabs.
Cost of living is the top issue on Americans' minds as they decide how they will vote next month, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Consumer inflation has spiked following a surge in gasoline and diesel prices brought on by the war with Iran that Trump launched in February.
Republicans' advantage among older Americans has dwindled this year. Voters age 50 or older preferred Trump's party over the Democratic Party by just 2 percentage points — 44% to 42% — compared to an 8-point Republican advantage in December.
The 50-and-older demographic is particularly important for midterm elections when older Americans historically have made up large shares of the electorate. Among voters under age 50, Democrats led by 18 points.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online and nationwide, surveyed 4,506 US adults and had a margin of error of about two percentage points.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia Osterman)
