Trump’s approval rating is near a career low ahead of elections, poll finds

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating held near a career low as a broad swathe of the US electorate saw their vote in Tuesday’s congressional midterm elections as a way to oppose the Republican president, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on ‌Monday.

The poll results underscore Republican vulnerabilities brought on by a surge in fuel prices since Trump launched a war on Iran in February. Voters in the nationwide poll said they preferred Democrats over Republicans - 46 per cent to 38 per cent - in what is known as a “generic ballot” question.

Still, that 8 percentage point Democratic advantage was narrower than in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted a week earlier, when Democrats led by 11 points.

The generic ballot question gives an overall view ⁠of which party voters nationwide would like to see in charge in Congress, though it does not capture the nuances of ‌the state-by-state and district-by-district contests that determine control of the US Senate and US House of Representatives.

Trump’s fellow Republicans are fighting to retain the party’s majorities in Congress.

Political strategists from both ‌parties think Democrats have the best shot at winning control of the House, where all 435 seats are ⁠up for grabs. Democrats ⁠face a more difficult path to victory in the US Senate, with the party on the defensive in Alaska and Michigan in recent days.

While ‌Trump will not be on the ballot, he looms large in the election.

Some 32 per cent of poll respondents said they approved of the job Trump was doing in ‌the White ‌House, unchanged from a week earlier and just above his record-low reading of 31 per cent two weeks ago.

Among registered voters, ‌some 50 per cent of independents said they saw their vote in congressional elections as a vote against Trump, compared with 13 per cent who ⁠said it was a vote for Trump and 33 per cent who said the president was not a factor in their vote.

Some ⁠78 per cent of voters said the rising cost of living would be very important or the most important issue in deciding how to vote. Asked which party was better on the issue, voters in the poll ‌picked Democrats over Republicans, 43 per cent ‌to 32 per cent.

Democrats appear to have more enthusiasm about voting, which the party hopes will lead to an advantage in voter turnout. Some 49 per cent of Democratic voters said they are “very enthusiastic” about voting this year, compared with 33 per cent of Republicans.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,765 US adults online and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.