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In an AP-NORC poll reported October 1, 2026, 26% of U.S. adults approved of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, a new low in the poll’s measure. Approval of his handling of the cost of living was lower still, at 17%. These are findings from this specific survey, not an average of all polls.
What the poll found
- Economy: 26% approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, down 14 percentage points from March 2025, shortly after he began his second term. The AP report characterized the result as a new low.
- Cost of living: 17% approved of his handling of living costs, and about seven in ten said it was worse than they had expected.
- Responsibility for high costs: 65% said Trump’s policies, rather than factors outside his control, were more responsible for persistently high costs. That is a report of respondents’ views, not a calculation of how much any particular policy changed prices.
Associated Press coverage of the AP-NORC findings
What households are worried about
About half of U.S. adults said they were extremely or very concerned about being able to afford food, and about half expressed high concern about filling their gas tanks. The share highly concerned about fuel was up from 39% in July, according to the AP report. These responses capture household concern; they do not establish that every household faces the same costs or financial pressures.
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Associated Press report on cost pressures and the poll
How to read the result
The survey measures approval and beliefs about responsibility. It cannot determine on its own how much tariffs, fuel prices, the Iran war, or any other factor caused prices to rise. The finding that 65% blamed Trump’s policies is a measure of public attribution, not a causal estimate.
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The AP report places the result alongside earlier polling: Biden’s economic approval was 28% in June 2022, when inflation was high. In October 2022, 44% blamed Biden’s policies for high prices and 55% blamed factors outside his control. Those figures provide political context, but they come from different dates and questions; they are not a controlled comparison of the two presidents’ responsibility for prices.
Associated Press historical comparison
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who was surveyed
The AP-NORC poll surveyed 2,140 U.S. adults from September 24 through September 28, 2026. Respondents came from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The reported overall margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. That margin describes sampling uncertainty for the overall results; the published report does not provide subgroup margins or enough detail to assess narrower group estimates.
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