Soaring prices and petrol costs fuel American voters' anger at Trump ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 November 2026.

With America's midterms just two days away, Trump faces record-low approval ratings driven largely by voter fury over the cost of living, with 83% of Americans disapproving of his handling of prices and 74% rejecting his management of the economy overall, according to an October AP-NORC poll.

A $1-a-gallon rise in petrol prices alone, analysts warn, could push Trump's approval to the lowest ever recorded for a sitting president heading into midterms.

Republican candidates across dozens of seats are directly exposed to the backlash, with the Iran war and sweeping tariffs blamed for stoking the inflationary surge.