Republican support for President Donald Trump remains stronger on immigration than on the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll released May 20, even as a war with Iran continues to strain costs and shape public priorities.
In the survey, about 6 in 10 Republicans said they approve of how Trump is handling the economy, a decline from about 8 in 10 in February, before the war with Iran began. The poll results arrive as respondents describe the war as contributing to higher gasoline prices and as the United States and Iran continue to press toward a permanent ceasefire. The article reporting also tied the timing to a recent Republican primary contest in which Trump-backed opposition overcame Rep. Thomas Massie in a challenge that tested Trump’s grip on parts of the party.
The economy’s erosion inside the GOP is reflected in the poll’s broader view of public satisfaction with Trump’s economic leadership. About one-third of U.S. adults approve of how he is handling the economy, which the reporting said matches an earlier AP-NORC poll conducted in late April but trails approval at the start of his second term, when 40% of U.S. adults approved. Inside the party, the reporting said a majority of Republicans—63%—still approve, but that figure dropped from 79% in February, when the war with Iran had not yet begun.
Republicans interviewed for the poll described gas and other price pressures in different ways. Ariel Gutierrez, a 55-year-old Republican in Wisconsin, said higher costs related to “the whole Iran issue” have made day-to-day expenses worse, arguing that the impact is “directly impacting us” now. Richard Baumgartner, a 77-year-old Republican from Las Vegas, said he views higher costs as a necessary byproduct of the war, adding that “Temporary price increases” are unfortunate but tied to confronting a “very serious problem.”
At the same time, the survey suggested immigration is where Trump retains comparatively stronger support. Reporting on the poll said immigration emerged early in his second term as a strength, with about half of U.S. adults saying they liked his approach before approval dipped to 38% in January and February amid more aggressive immigration enforcement that the reporting linked to the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. In the new results, the approval share for Trump’s immigration handling rose to 45% among U.S. adults. The report also characterized the administration’s recent posture as moving toward a quieter approach to enforcement.
Independents and Republicans interviewed also pointed to immigration enforcement as the issue where Trump most often breaks through. Brenda Theiss, 73, an independent from Cullman, Alabama, said she disliked everything Trump does but credited him with taking action to disrupt the status quo, saying “He’s closing the border. He did it. Biden didn’t do it.” The poll reporting said immigration remains a top issue for Trump among Republicans, with about 8 in 10 approving his handling, roughly 10 points higher than the share that say he is doing a good job overall as president.
Outside Trump’s base, approval levels on Iran and foreign policy remained low. The poll reporting said only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Iran, while roughly two-thirds of Republicans approve, with younger Republicans described as more likely than older Republicans to disapprove. The survey also put Trump’s overall foreign-policy favorability at about one-third among Americans, a measure the reporting said had not shifted significantly in recent months despite a more aggressive approach described in the story, including actions involving Venezuela’s leader and threats toward Cuba.
Amanda Wylie, a 22-year-old Republican-leaning independent in Athens, Georgia, said Iran was one of the few issues where Trump did not have her support, arguing the U.S. was “wasting resources over there” and questioning the cost in light of concerns such as gas prices and the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,117 adults from May 14-18, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel intended to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall was reported as plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.