A new Fox News poll finds President Donald Trump’s overall job approval at 36%, the lowest mark recorded for him in any Fox News survey across either term, as voters head toward the midterms deeply worried about the cost of living.
The survey, conducted Oct. 9-12 among 1,202 registered voters, found 60% of voters name the cost of living as their top economic concern, far outpacing government spending (15%), jobs and income inequality (7% each), tariffs (6%), and taxes (5%). Seventy-four percent rate the economy negatively, and 53% expect it to get worse next year. Only 18% say their family is better off than two years ago.
Trump’s weakest numbers come on inflation specifically: just 22% approve of his handling of it, a new low, down from 36% last summer. By comparison, 29% approved of then-President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation four years ago, ahead of the 2022 midterms. A majority of voters, 55%, say inflation is “not at all” under control, up from a low of 45% earlier this year — and that figure includes 30% of Republicans.
Disapproval runs high across the board: 77% disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation, 70% on the economy, 69% on tariffs, and 64% on foreign policy. Fifty-six percent disapprove of his handling of immigration. Border security is the lone issue where opinion is evenly split, 50% approve to 50% disapprove.
Trump’s overall approval had held steady at 39% since May before this month’s drop to 36%. The decline is concentrated among voters under 45, households earning under $50,000 a year, non-white voters, and those without a college degree. Even support within his own party has softened — approval among Republicans stands at 76%, down 3 points from last month, 12 points since September 2025, and 16 points since March 2025.
A Message-Sending Electorate
Seven in 10 voters say they plan to use their vote to send a message to Trump, with those wanting to express opposition (47%) nearly double those wanting to show support (25%).
On the generic ballot, 54% of voters say they’d back the Democratic candidate in their House district versus 45% for the Republican — a gap outside the poll’s margin of error and wider than last month’s 51%-44% split. Among voters certain to turn out, Democrats still lead, 52%-46%.
Self-identification is close to even, with 43% calling themselves Democrats and 41% Republicans. Both parties report similar certainty about voting (62% and 64%, respectively), though more Democrats (61%) than Republicans (52%) say they’re extremely interested in the election. Party loyalty remains strong, with 98% of Democrats and 94% of Republicans backing their own party’s candidate, while independents favor Democrats by 26 points.
Hispanic voters have shifted notably: 43% backed Trump in 2024, but only 31% say they prefer the Republican candidate this year.
“When the country is this closely divided in terms of partisanship, slight differences in defection and turnout rates can make all the difference,” said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the poll alongside Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “Republicans have time to close these apparent gaps, but it’s getting late.”
Issues Favor Democrats
Democrats hold an advantage on 10 of 13 issues tested. The top voter concerns are government corruption (60% extremely concerned), inflation (58%), gas prices (50%), government leadership (49%), and healthcare (48%) — and on every one of these, voters trust Democrats over Republicans by double digits.
Republicans still lead on crime (by 10 points) and border security (by 8 points), with immigration close (Republicans +3). Democrats lead on healthcare (+22), inflation (+16), gas prices (+12), voting rights (+12), election integrity (+12), government leadership (+11), public school curricula (+11), artificial intelligence (+10), government corruption (+10), and foreign policy (+9).
That marks a reversal from four years ago, when Republicans held a 21-point edge on border security, a 13-point edge on inflation, and a 9-point edge on foreign policy.
A 14-point margin of voters also believe Democrats will do a better job “fighting for people like you” — a sentiment shared by majorities of college-educated white voters (53%), men (52%), women (60%), and non-white voters (77%). White voters without a college degree are evenly split at 49-49%.
Despite the issue edge, neither party convinces most voters it has real answers: just 35% say Democrats have a clear plan for the country’s problems, and 33% say the same of Republicans — a reversal from July 2025, when 43% credited Republicans with a clear plan versus 33% for Democrats.
Distrust Runs Deep
Congress fares even worse than the president, with just 15% approval and 84% disapproval — though that’s still above the record low of 9% from October 2013.
Neither party is popular on its own: the Democratic Party sits at 42% favorable to 58% unfavorable, while the Republican Party is at 38% favorable to 61% unfavorable. Favorability doesn’t map neatly onto vote choice, either — 31% of those backing the Democratic candidate say they dislike the party, as do 23% of Republican-candidate backers regarding the GOP. Among the 26% of voters who dislike both parties, Democrats lead 62%-36%.
Partisan distrust runs deep: just 16% of Republicans believe Democrats love America and want what’s best for the country, and only 6% of Democrats say the same of Republicans.
On broader economic philosophy, 51% of voters hold a favorable view of capitalism versus 32% for socialism. Capitalism’s favorability is down 2 points from a year ago while socialism’s is up 5. Eight in 10 voters who view socialism favorably back the Democratic candidate, while 6 in 10 who view capitalism favorably back the Republican.
On foreign policy, 6 in 10 voters oppose U.S. military action against Iran, and those voters back Democrats by 56 points. A new high of 46% say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel, favoring Democrats by 42 points, while the 4 in 10 who say support is about right favor Republicans by 27 points.
The poll was conducted Oct. 9-12 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, surveying 1,202 registered voters by phone and online text invitation, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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