As voter discontent with President Trump's inflation policy spreads, even rural areas, his core base, are turning their backs. With the burden of living costs, concerns about rising oil prices, and a worsening agricultural environment overlapping, rural residents' approval of Trump's job performance has fallen to its lowest level since he took office.
According to a poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos from the 3rd to the 8th, local time, Trump's job approval among rural residents was 50%. That is 10 percentage points lower than 60% in Feb. 2025, right after Trump's inauguration, and the lowest level since he took office. In contrast, negative views of his governance rose to 48% from 34% over the same period.
Rural areas are considered Trump's signature base. According to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, a U.S. think tank, Trump won overwhelming support from rural voters by a 40-point margin in last year's presidential election. That was a wider gap than the 31-point margin in the 2020 election and 25 points in 2016.
Reuters analyzed the latest poll as showing that voter frustration over inflation and living costs has spread even to rural areas, the core of Trump's base. In a survey conducted by U.K. pollster Focaldata of 1,537 registered voters from the 29th of last month to the 1st of this month, 68% of respondents rated Trump's response to inflation and living costs negatively. That is up 10 percentage points from April.
The burden of living costs is cited as a reason for the slide in support. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 31% of rural respondents rated Trump's inflation and economic policies positively, while 61% viewed them negatively. As recently as Feb. this year, positive views of the related policies were 45%, with negative views at 43%.
The recent spike in concern about rising energy prices due to the Iran war is also seen as a factor. Rural residents are more sensitive to higher gas prices because they drive longer distances than city residents. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, rural residents travel an average of 30 miles (48 km) by car per day, about 1.8 times farther than city residents (17 miles/27 km).
A deteriorating agricultural environment is also fueling farmers' frustration. According to Reuters, fertilizer prices have risen due to the fallout from the Iran war, while agricultural commodity prices remain low. Exports have also been dampened by the Trump administration's trade policy. In some regions, diesel prices have surged to record highs, increasing the burden on farmers and fishers.
Brian Rauch, who works for a nonprofit supporting veterans in Montana, told Reuters, "The growing number of data centers in the area is worsening water shortages, and everyone is spending more on groceries and gasoline," adding, "everyday life has clearly gotten worse, but we haven't seen the benefits."
The slide in approval for President Trump is expected to weigh on Republicans ahead of next year's midterm elections. According to an NBC poll, in a survey of preferred congressional majorities, 49% of registered voters chose Democrats, 5 percentage points more than Republicans (44%). Among independents, support for Democrats was 46%, 12 points ahead of Republicans (34%). Negative views expanded especially among young voters and Hispanic voters who had moved toward Trump in last year's election.
However, the White House expects prices to fall again as the Iran war ends. White House Spokesperson Kushi Desai recently told the Financial Times (FT), "As the Iran threat is removed and the effects of policy take hold, inflation will slow and gasoline prices will fall to their lowest level in years."