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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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About one in two Republicans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the cost of living, a new poll suggests.
AP-NORC's April poll found 47 percent of Republicans surveyed disapproved of Trump's performance on affordability, while 51 percent approved. Among all voters surveyed on Trump's handling of affordability, 23 percent approved and 76 disapproved.
Trump's approval rating also dipped among voters traditionally most loyal to him. About 9 in 10 Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republicans approved of Trump's job overall, but that dipped to 7 in 10 in regards to the cost of living.
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The poll was the first by AP-NORC—an Associated Press and University of Chicago collaboration—this year to include cost-of-living approval ratings, and comes as the Iran war has led to a spike in gas prices in the U.S.
Trump’s approval rating on the economy dropped to 30 percent in April from 38 percent in a March AP-NORC poll. A similarly low share of U.S. adults, 32 percent, in April approved of the president’s leadership on Iran, a rating unchanged since March.
The latest poll surveyed 2,596 adults via phone from April 16 to 20. The margin of error was given as +/- 3.4 percentage points.
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Why It Matters
The findings could spell trouble for the GOP as it tries to defend slim House and Senate majorities in November's midterm elections. Losing either could allow Democrats to stifle parts of Trump's agenda.
Democrats have focused on affordability as a top campaign issue, helping propel them to victory in off-year elections in 2025 and several Democrats have won or overperformed in special elections since.
The Trump administration has been trying to focus on housing and other affordability issues for months, passing measures to reduce tax on tips and Social Securit, and Trump signed two executive orders in March aimed at making housing and mortgages more affordable. The administration has held up measures such as GDP growth and record-high stock valuations as evidence that its economic agenda is working.
What To Know
Younger Republicans are particularly unhappy about how Trump is handling the cost of living, according to the AP. About 6 in 10 Republicans under 45 disapprove of how Trump is handling costs, compared to about 4 in 10 older Republicans.
The April poll found 73 percent of U.S. adults termed the economy “very” or “somewhat” poor, up from 66 percent in February.
Consumer prices rose 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier, the Department of Labor reported earlier in April. The figure is up sharply from just 2.4 percent in February and 2.5 percent in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9 percent in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.
The drop in confidence comes after U.S. gas prices rose past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 in March, and inflation jumped to the highest level since Trump returned to the White House last year.
According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.02 as of Wednesday—more than a dollar more expensive than before the Iran war began on February 28. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline in early January 2020 was about $2.58, according to the American Automobile Association.
Average U.S. Gas Prices
The Department of Labor reported this month that average hourly wages were up 0.2 percent in March from February, and up 3.5 percent from March 2025—the smallest gain since May 2021.
Trump has played down rising costs caused by the war prompting Iran to effectively shutter the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman where one fifth of the world’s oil normally transits.
He dismissed the war as a “little journey” on Tuesday and portrayed the roughly 35 percent jump in oil prices as a positive compared to what he thought would happen. In an interview with CNBC, he said he was “surprised” that oil prices were only around $90 a barrel, compared to the $200 that he claimed to have expected.
"The fact is that we took this little journey, and if you would have told me that the Dow is almost–I’m looking at your [live stock ticker]–I mean literally, we’re at 50,000," he said. "And if you would have told me that oil is at 90 as opposed to 200 I would be frankly, surprised."
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Update 4/22/26, 9:10 a.m. ET: Further context on consumer prices and recent elections added.
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