Trump approval rises from record low as midterms near: poll

Oct. 26, 2026, 9:02 p.m. ET

After weeks of record lows stretching back to late September, President Donald Trump’s approval rating ticked up slightly, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The poll, released on Oct. 26, found Trump’s approval at 32%, up one percentage point from last week’s Reuters/Ipsos tracking, when his approval rating hit a record low across his White House terms.

The modest rebound comes just over a week before the midterm elections, as Republicans continue to trail Democrats on the generic congressional ballot. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll gives Democrats an 11-point advantage, down 1 point from the previous week’s record high.

The stakes are high for the GOP: Losing control of either chamber of Congress could make it more difficult for Trump to advance his agenda during his final two years in office.

The five-day Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,679 adults, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

A struggling GOP

Despite the president’s improvement, the Republican Party continues to struggle in various generic ballot polls ahead of the midterms.

Aside from the newest Reuters/Ipsos poll, the GOP trailed Democrats by double digits in a New York Times/Siena University poll released over the weekend. In that survey, Republicans trailed Democrats by 11 percentage points.

A similar Democratic advantage appears in other recent surveys, including a Focaldata/Financial Times poll released Sunday, Oct. 25, which showed the party leading the GOP by 9 percentage points.

According to VoteHub, Democrats have an 88% chance of winning the House of Representatives (projected to win 232 seats), with a 60% chance of retaking control of the Senate with 52 seats.