A new Fox News poll finds President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has fallen to 36%, the lowest mark recorded for him in any Fox News survey during either of his terms, as voters overwhelmingly cite the cost of living as their top economic worry.
The survey, conducted Oct. 9-12, 2026 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research among 1,202 registered voters, shows 60% of voters name the cost of living as their biggest economic concern, far outpacing government spending (15%), jobs and income inequality (7% each), tariffs (6%) and taxes (5%).
Views of the broader economy are grim: 74% rate it negatively, 53% expect it to get worse next year, and 66% say they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Only 18% say their family is better off than it was two years ago. Independents are especially pessimistic, with 52% saying they’re worse off and 70% expecting the economy to deteriorate further.
Inflation remains a central pressure point. A majority of voters, 55%, say inflation is “not at all” under control, up from a low of 45% earlier this year, and that figure includes 30% of Republicans. Trump’s approval on inflation specifically sits at just 22%, a new low for him on that issue — down from 36% last summer. By comparison, 29% approved of President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Disapproval runs high across other issues as well: 77% disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation, 70% on the economy, 69% on tariffs, and 64% on foreign policy. A majority also disapproves of his handling of immigration (56%), while border security is the only issue where voters are evenly split, 50% approve to 50% disapprove.
Trump’s overall approval had held steady at 39% since May before this latest decline. Pollsters say the drop is concentrated among voters under 45, those earning under $50,000 a year, non-white voters, and voters without a college degree. Even within his own party, approval has slipped to 76% among Republicans — down 3 points from last month, 12 points since September 2025, and 16 points since March 2025.
Midterm Message: Punish the Party in Power
Seven in 10 voters say they intend to use their midterm vote to send a message to Trump, with nearly twice as many saying that message is opposition (47%) as support (25%).
Asked how they would vote today, 54% of voters back the Democratic candidate in their House district versus 45% for the Republican — a gap outside the poll’s margin of error and wider than last month’s 51%-44% Democratic lead. Among voters certain to cast a ballot, Democrats still lead, 52%-46%.
Party identification is roughly even, with 43% of voters calling themselves Democrats and 41% Republicans, and both sides report similar certainty about voting (62% and 64%, respectively). Democrats report somewhat higher enthusiasm, with 61% saying they’re extremely interested in the election compared with 52% of Republicans.
Base loyalty remains strong on both sides — 98% of Democrats back their party’s candidate, as do 94% of Republicans — while independents favor the Democrat by 26 points. Notably, Hispanic support for the Republican candidate has dropped to 31%, down from the 43% Trump won among Hispanic voters in 2024.
“When the country is this closely divided in terms of partisanship, slight differences in defection and turnout rates can make all the difference,” said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll alongside Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “Republicans have time to close these apparent gaps, but it’s getting late.”
Democrats Hold Advantage on Most Issues
Democrats lead on 10 of 13 issues tested in the poll. The top voter concerns overall are government corruption (60% extremely concerned), inflation (58%), gas prices (50%), government leadership (49%) and healthcare (48%) — and on every one of those, voters trust Democrats over Republicans by double digits.
Republicans still hold an advantage on crime (by 10 points) and border security (by 8 points), while immigration is closely divided (Republicans by 3 points). Democrats lead on healthcare (by 22 points), inflation (16), gas prices (12), voting rights (12), election integrity (12), government leadership (11), public school curriculum (11), artificial intelligence (10), government corruption (10) and foreign policy (9).
That marks a reversal from four years ago, when Republicans held a 21-point edge on border security, a 13-point edge on inflation, and a 9-point edge on foreign policy.
One non-issue factor appears to be boosting Democrats: by a 14-point margin, more voters say Democrats will do a better job “fighting for people like you.” That view is shared by majorities of white voters with a college degree (53%), men (52%), women (60%) and non-white voters (77%), while white voters without a degree are evenly split, 49%-49%.
Still, voters aren’t convinced either party has solutions. Just 35% say Democrats have a clear plan for the country’s problems, and 33% say the same of Republicans — a reversal from July 2025, when 43% credited Republicans with a clear plan versus 33% for Democrats.
Washington Broadly Unpopular
Congress fares poorly in the poll, with just 15% approval against 84% disapproval — though that is still above the record low of 9% approval recorded in October 2013.
Neither major party is viewed favorably. The Democratic Party is underwater by 16 points (42% favorable, 58% unfavorable), and the Republican Party is underwater by 23 points (38% favorable, 61% unfavorable). Favorability doesn’t map neatly onto vote choice, either: 31% of those backing the Democratic candidate say they dislike the party, as do 23% of Republican-candidate supporters regarding the GOP. Among the 26% of voters who dislike both parties, Democrats lead 62%-36%.
Partisan distrust runs deep. Only 16% of Republicans believe Democrats love America and want what’s best for the country, and only 6% of Democrats say the same of Republicans. Compared with four years ago, the share crediting Democrats with loving the country is up 4 points, while the share crediting Republicans is down 6 points.
On broader ideology, 51% of voters hold a favorable view of capitalism compared with 32% for socialism. Favorable views of capitalism are down 2 points from a year ago, while favorable views of socialism are up 5 points. Eight in 10 voters who view socialism favorably back the Democratic candidate, while 6 in 10 who view capitalism favorably back the Republican.
On foreign policy, 6 in 10 voters oppose recent U.S. military action against Iran, and those voters back Democrats by 56 points. A new high of 46% say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel, and that group favors Democrats by 42 points, while the 4 in 10 who say U.S. support for Israel is about right favor Republicans by 27 points. Nearly 6 in 10 voters hold a negative view of artificial intelligence technology, and they back the Democratic candidate by 27 points.
The survey carries a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for the full sample; margins for subgroups are higher.
