More than four in 10 Americans, 44%, intend to go to the polls next month to vote against U.S. President Donald Trump, a good deal more than the 36% who turned out to vote against President Joe Biden in 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, in which Trump had a 30% approval rating.
Just one-third of Americans approve of Trump’s prosecution of the war against Iran, which is down from 37% in March, shortly after the onset of the conflict, according to Pew data, and 77% think that the war will continue for at least another six months.
The generic ballot—whether voters prefer an unnamed Republican or an unnamed Democrat for the House—favored the Democratic candidate, 44% to 36%. Some 15% were unsure, and 5% favored another candidate.
More than three-quarters of those backing a Democratic candidate (78%) said it “really matters” which party controls Congress, compared with 69% of GOP voters.
Almost one-third of those who voted for Trump in 2024, 31%, disapproved of Trump’s performance in office, while 67% approved.
Midterm elections often serve as a referendum on the current president, and 63% said Trump was a factor in their vote. In the poll, 44% said that their choice of candidate was a vote against the president, while just 19% said their vote was for him.
More than eight in 10 Americans (84%) listed the economy as a major concern, more than any other issue. In the survey, 35% said they were confident that Trump would make good decisions about that issue, down from 59% after he was re-elected in November 2024.
Other top issues were the future of democracy (73%), healthcare (68%), education (62%), immigration (59%) and foreign policy (57%).
The survey of 5,062 Americans was conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.
