By STEVE PEOPLES and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — More U.S. adults support President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict in Israel after he brokered a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a new AP-NORC poll finds — but his approval ratings on domestic issues remain weak.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that Trump’s apparent success on the world stage has not yet improved his overall standing at home. In interviews, even some of his voters said he needs to do more to address issues such as the economy, health care and immigration.
“It’s kind of cool he’s bringing peace, but I’m like, ‘You kind of need to worry about your American people instead of bringing peace to the world first,’” said Justin Sanders, a 31-year-old Republican from Birmingham, Alabama, who voted twice for Trump.
“We need the inflation to go down,” added Sanders, who works as a driver for DoorDash. “I’m tired of sitting here struggling going day by day trying to figure out if I’m going to eat or not.”
The poll was conducted Oct. 9-13, before the hostages and prisoners were freed in Israel, but after the ceasefire deal was announced. The tenuous ceasefire in Gaza has held this week even as major questions remain about the U.S. plan for the region and whether the peace can be sustained.
At the same time, Trump faces major hurdles at home with a U.S. government shutdown now in its third week, prices remaining too high for many Americans and millions more impacted by health care cuts and hospital closures.
In the new poll, about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president overall, unchanged from September.
Trump’s approval on Israeli-Palestinian conflict rises
About half of U.S. adults, 47%, approve of how Trump is handling the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That’s an increase from 37% in September, and it’s driven primarily by Democrats viewing Trump more positively on this issue.
Jack Bornstein, of Alpharetta, Georgia, a 61-year-old independent who typically votes for Democrats, said he was pleased the Israeli hostages were released as part of the deal Trump helped negotiate.
“I give him credit for that. That’s probably the only thing I can say is positive for him,” Bornstein said, pointing to concerns about rising grocery prices, health care and Trump’s character.
However, separate AP-NORC polling from July indicates that Americans are much more likely to say domestic issues — such as the economy, health care, taxes, government spending and immigration — are “extremely” or “very” important to them as compared with the situation in the Middle East.
In the July poll, only about 4 in 10 said the Middle East was at least “very” important to them personally, compared with about 9 in 10 who said that about the economy.
Most disapprove of Trump’s handling of economy, immigration, health care
On domestic issues, Americans don’t believe that Trump is doing particularly well — even on immigration, a signature issue for the Republican president.
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the way Trump is handling immigration, which is in line with his September measure, but down slightly from the beginning of his second term.
On the economy, the chief concern for many, only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s performance. The figure has stayed steady throughout his second term.
One of Trump’s weakest issues is health care, a topic that’s taken center stage during the ongoing government shutdown.
About 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s leadership on health care, in line with September. Almost all Democrats disapprove of his work on health care, but so do about 8 in 10 independents and about one-third of Republicans.
Alison Weaver, a 62-year-old independent from Roanoke, Virginia, said Trump’s second term has been “a debacle.”
She criticized his “gestapo tactics” on immigration and laughed out loud when asked about his performance on health care.
“It’s horrifying,” Weaver said.
Most say the country is going in the wrong direction
Trump’s domestic challenges come on the eve of a new election season in which voters in New Jersey and Virginia will elect new governors next month, while several other states will host municipal elections.
Trump’s weak numbers could create problems for Republican candidates who have been wary of distancing themselves from the GOP president. The new poll might also raise concerns for incumbents in either party, since about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say things in this country are heading in the wrong direction.
That’s down slightly from September, shortly after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, when about three-quarters of Americans said the country was going in the wrong direction. Republicans are less likely to say the country is headed in the wrong direction than they were last month, returning closer to levels before Kirk’s assassination. Democrats and independents have not changed significantly.
Dean Grace, a 73-year-old Democrat from Duluth, Minnesota, said he has very few positive things to say about Trump.
“I will give him some credit for the ceasefire, although claiming peace in the Middle East is a stretch,” he said. “My issues are that, as a Christian, I find nothing to agree with my president about morally.”
The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Peoples reported from New York.
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