March 3, 2026, 1:18 a.m. ET
The US strikes on Iran have proved controversial for President Donald Trump‘s approval ratings today, with new presidential approval polls from RealClearPolling and New York Times showing many Americans disapprove of how Trump attacked Iran, Trump’s ICE agenda, the state of the US economy and the US cost of living.
The Trump approval rating updates Monday, March 2, paint a challenging picture for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
New presidential polls from Reuters/Ipsos and recent polls from CBS News, Rasmussen Reports, RMG Research and Civiqs, which provide state-level polling on Trump approval ratings in New Jersey, reflect sentiments on what could be a weeks-long operation in Iran. With gold prices and crude oil prices soaring with 20% of the global oil supply halted, auto stocks Ford, GM and Stellantis sliding and fears of a US recession and stagflation becoming very real, here’s the latest approval ratings for Trump in the polls.
President Donald Trump approval rating; Real Clear, NYT polls
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings Monday from RealClearPolling and New York Times aggregators show Trump’s job approval has bounced, with Trump’s net approval rating -11.2 today amid the US attacks in Iran, Real Clear Politics polling shows. Trump’s presidential approval rating was 43.3% today, with 54.5% disapprove of Trump’s job performance today. Pollster Nate Silver said Trump had hit -14.4 — his worst net rating yet — but it went back up in large part driven by a Trafalgar Group poll, a Republican pollster, that brought Trump’s net approval above water.
The New York Times aggregator, a combination of the latest presidential polls, shows 41% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, as of March 2. Trump’s approval rating today is just 1% above his all-time lowest approval rating of 40%, which he reached on Feb. 12. He last had a higher approval vs disapproval rating on March 4, 2025.
What is Trump’s approval rating today?
In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, the latest Trump approval ratings show 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump, with just 1 in 4 Americans approving of the strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 that killed leader Ali Khamenei. The poll, conducted Feb. 28 through March 1 and released hours after the US and Israeli military strikes in Iran, show 27% of people approve of the strikes. Others were unsure.
View of the military strikes authorized by Trump also split across Democrat and Republican lines: Some 74% of Democrats disapprove of Trump’s call for military strikes, while a majority (55%) approve. Independents lean against the action (44%), with a sizable 31% say they are unsure.
In a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted before the strike, 51% of people said they would favor US military action against Iran to stop them from making nuclear weapons. Some 38% of people said that prior to the start of the Iranian conflict, the US should have approached Iran’s current leadership with negotiations, with just 18% believing a removal from power with force was necessary. As for Trump’s war powers and Congress’ push for a war powers vote? Some 74% of Americans say Trump needed approval from Congress before starting the Iranian conflict, Trump did not get prior approval from Congress, but authorized military actions via the War Powers Act of 1973.
Released March 2, Rasmussen Reports, which tends to lean conservative, show 46% of respondents approve of Trump’s job performance, while 53% disapprove. Some 31% of respondents strongly approved of Trump’s job performance, while 45% strong disapproved.
In a poll from University of Maryland taken in early February, 49% of Americans said they opposed the US initiating an attack on Iran. Some 48% of respondents said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned with Iran’s nuclear program as a direct threat to the US, according to a AP-NORC Center poll conducted a week before the US strikes on Iran.
The survey showed just 27% of respondents fully trust Trump to make the right decision on the use of nuclear weapons and 59% responded they have “only a little or not at all” amount of trust in Trump.
What do polls say about Trump’s approval in NJ?
President Donald Trump’s approval rating in New Jersey is 39%, as of the latest polls on Feb. 28 from Civiqs. Some 57% of New Jerseyans disapprove of Trump’s job performance in his second term, with 5% unsure.
Trump’s approval rating in NJ has slowly drooped, with the survey showing slight dips at Trump’s global tariff announcement last year, when Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill last July, the longest-ever government shutdown in 2025, and the capture and arrest of Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, in January 2026.
In the latest presidential approval polls, those aged 50 and over approve of Trump the most in NJ (38%), which those under the age of 34 have the greatest disapproval of Trump (22%). Among those surveyed, more NJ men approve of Trump (39%) than NJ women (26%). As for registered Republicans in NJ, some 87% approve of Trump’s job performance while 2% of Democrats agree (97% of Democrats disapprove).
Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
