WASHINGTON (Reuters)

President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell to 43 per cent, the lowest since his return to office, as Americans soured on his tariff moves and his administration’s handling of information about a military strike in Yemen, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The three-day poll, which closed on Wednesday (April 2), showed approval of Trump’s performance as president down two percentage points from a poll conducted March 21-23 and 4 points below the 47 per cent approval he had shortly after taking office on January 20.

Trump registered his highest first-term approval rating, 49 per cent, shortly after he took office in January 2017. His lowest first-term rating was 33 per cent in December 2017. His overall approval remains stronger than it was for most of his first term.

Democrat Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor in the White House, had his lowest rating – 35 per cent – just ahead of last November’s presidential election. 

Respondents gave Trump poor marks for his handling of the economy, which 37 per cent approved of, with 30 per cent approving of his work to address the high cost of living, an issue that also dogged Biden.

About half of respondents – 52 per cent – agreed with a statement that increasing tariffs on autos and auto parts, part of the new tariff push Trump was unveiling on Wednesday, will hurt people close to them, and about the same share said that boosting tariffs would do more harm than good. About a third of Americans – largely from Trump’s Republican Party – said they disagreed with the statements that tariffs would do harm.

Trump has marshalled a whirlwind of policy changes since taking office, pushing out nearly 200,000 federal workers and upending longstanding American diplomatic norms. His tariff policies have spooked investors, leading to a selloff in the stock market amid concerns they could trigger a recession.

WORRIES ABOUT SIGNAL SITUATION

Respondents also faulted the Trump administration’s handling of military secrets, following the revelation last week that senior leaders discussed plans for an attack on militants in Yemen on the commercially available Signal messaging app and inadvertently shared advance plans with a journalist.

Some 74 per cent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll – including 91 per cent of Democrats and 55 per cent of Republicans – said it was reckless to discuss the attack plans in this manner, compared with 22 per cent who said it was a harmless oversight. Another 70 per cent agreed with a statement that Trump should accept responsibility for the matter.

Only 34 per cent of respondents in the poll approved of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, down from 37 per cent in the March 21-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll. Some 48 per cent of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of immigration.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online and nationwide, surveyed 1,486 US adults and had a margin of error of about three percentage points.