With only months before November's midterms and as gas prices continue to rise across the United States, an overwhelming number of Americans say that President Donald Trump has not paid enough attention to the country's most important problems.
In a new CNN/SSRS poll released July 29, 73% of U.S. adults said that Trump has not "paid enough attention to the country's most important problems." That large majority is the highest ever recorded by the pollster in either of Trump's two terms in the White House.
The same poll found that 71% of Americans said the president has not gone far enough in trying to lower the price of everyday goods. CNN/SSRS' findings come as U.S. gas prices averaged $4.09 on July 30 and as the deeply unpopular war in Iran continues to rage.
The CNN/SSRS poll was conducted from July 23 to July 27 with 1,225 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
The White House did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on July 30.
The same poll also found that almost two-thirds of Americans believe that the president's policies have worsened economic conditions in the nation. A similar number of Americans also believe that Trump's military decisions in Iran have hurt rather than helped the United States.
Despite the Iran war now having lasted for more than five months, a large majority, 71%, of Americans believe the conflict is set to continue for a long time. A similar majority, 74%, said that they thought Trump did not have a clear plan for handling the war.
Strikes between the United States and Iran have been ongoing after a stuttering ceasefire.
The U.S. military launched strikes in Iran on July 29 in response to a "surprise attack" by Tehran, with Trump saying he wanted to hit them "very hard" and "smack them a little bit" after Iran launched missiles at U.S. and Saudi forces.
On the home front, more specifically in Washington, DC, Trump has launched various controversial construction projects in the nation's capital.
Among them, Trump has begun to build a large ballroom in place of the White House's East Wing as well as renovating the National Mall's Reflecting Pool.
Despite Trump touting those projects as an effort to beautify the capital, fewer than half of Republicans feel positively about the president's efforts. On the flipside, an overwhelming number of Democrats and Independents say they feel negatively towards Trump's construction projects, according to the CNN/SSRS poll.
This week has been historic for the president, but for all the wrong reasons, as Trump hit record low approval ratings in four separate polls.
In CNN/SSRS' poll, Trump's approval rating was 34%. That low mark matched his previous low at the end of his first term in office, in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
On July 28, an Economist/YouGov poll found that 34% of Americans approved of Trump's job performance, marking the president's lowest approval rating in YouGov's tracking since he returned to the White House.
A poll released by Quinnipiac University on July 29 showed Trump's approval rating at 32%, according to the pollster; that mark was the lowest recorded in either of his terms in office. On July 30, an AP-NORC poll set the president's approval rating at 33%, the lowest recorded by the pollster since his return to the White House in 2025.
USA TODAY's Michelle Del Rey, Zac Anderson and Bart Jansen contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Majority in poll says Trump isn't paying attention to their problems