Trump says his approval ratings are down, except with ‘smart people’
By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump did something he rarely does on Wednesday: He admitted his poll numbers are down.
Pressured by the high cost of living and the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump touched on the difficulties with his political base in an impassioned speech to Saudi Arabian business leaders and officials.
His approval rating fell to 38%, the lowest level since his return to office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week.
“So my poll numbers are down, but they’re up a lot with smart people,” he said in Washington.
Trump’s stance came under fire from conservative allies who disagreed with his view that some skilled foreign workers would be needed to help develop critical industries at home.
“I always get some anger from my people, from the people who love me, from the people I love,” Trump said. “They’re to the right of center, to the right. Sometimes they’re too far to the right.”
Some conservatives blame immigration for taking away jobs from U.S. citizens, suppressing wages and hindering Americans’ ability to compete in fast-growing industries, including advanced manufacturing. Trump, who himself has generally taken a hard line on immigration, says foreign workers are helping train American workers for jobs in those industries.
“They are incredibly patriotic, but they don’t understand that our people need to be educated,” Trump said, referring to his allies. “This is something they’ve never done.”
Reuters/Ipsos polls regularly show that support for Trump is lower among college-educated Americans than among those without a college degree. In this week’s poll, only 33% of respondents with a college degree or more approved of Trump’s job performance, while 42% of those without a college degree did.
Trump also touched on inflation, which is a major concern for voters and gives him low marks on that issue. Only 26% of Americans think Trump is doing a good job managing living expenses, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Trump blamed the inflation on Democrats and added: “We’ve got nice, normal inflation now; it’s going to go down a little bit in the next few months.”
The U.S. government shutdown delayed the latest data on consumer prices, but inflation has been running above the Federal Reserve target since former President Joe Biden took office.
Trump did not mention the other major political issue plaguing his administration: the so-called Epstein files. Congress voted almost unanimously Tuesday to force the Trump administration to release documents related to the case. Trump, who fought against such a move for months before reversing course, said the issue cast a shadow over his administration’s accomplishments.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)
