Trump Falls to 33% Approval as 56% of U.S. Voters Oppose His Canada Tariffs: FT Poll

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Donald Trump’s political problem is increasingly colliding with his trade agenda. A new Financial Times/Focaldata poll puts the U.S. president’s approval rating at 33% among registered voters, the lowest level in the FT’s tracking since it began asking the question in May. At the same time, 56% oppose the latest 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods, turning a cross-border trade fight into a domestic affordability issue.

The numbers arrive less than two months before the November midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending control of Congress. They also land as Americans remain uneasy about household finances and as Canada prepares another round of retaliatory tariffs. For Washington, the central question is no longer simply whether tariffs can pressure Ottawa. It is whether voters believe the strategy is improving their own economic position.

Trump’s 33% Approval Marks a New Low in FT Tracking

The headline number is stark, but the methodology matters. Focaldata interviewed 1,914 registered U.S. voters between August 28 and September 1 for the Financial Times. The reported margin of error was about 2.6 percentage points. Within that sample, only 33% approved of Trump’s performance, making it the weakest reading in the FT’s series since the question was first asked in May.

That does not mean 33% is necessarily Trump’s lowest reading in every national poll, and it should not be presented that way. What makes the finding more significant is that a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll released days earlier also put Trump at 33% approval. When two different polling operations using different samples arrive at the same headline figure, it strengthens the evidence that the president is entering the fall campaign with unusually weak national standing.

Even Republican Support Is Showing Signs of Strain

Trump remains far more popular with Republican voters than with the electorate overall, but the FT data show erosion inside his own coalition. His approval among Republicans fell to 72%, the lowest level recorded in the FT’s polling series. That is still a clear majority, yet it leaves a meaningful share of the party’s voters unwilling to give the president a positive job rating.

The more troubling number for Republican strategists may be economic approval. Only 53% of Republican voters approved of Trump’s handling of jobs and the economy, down nearly eight points from the prior month. Economic management has historically been a core Republican strength, so slippage among the party’s own voters carries added weight. A voter can remain loyal to a party while becoming frustrated with prices, wages or business conditions, and those frustrations can show up as lower enthusiasm or weaker turnout on Election Day in November.

The Canada Tariffs Are Unpopular Beyond Party Lines

The trade fight with Canada is one of the clearest pressure points. The FT/Focaldata findings show 56% of registered voters opposing the new 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods. Opposition rose to 60% among independents, and nearly one-third of Republicans also rejected the move. That is a difficult coalition for the White House because independents often decide close congressional races.

A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll reached almost the same conclusion: 57% of Americans opposed additional tariffs on Canada, while only 20% supported them. Ipsos also found that 68% wanted the United States to be willing to make tradeoffs with Canada rather than insist on getting most of what it wanted. Those numbers suggest the dispute is being judged not only through a nationalist trade lens but through a practical question about whether escalation with a deeply integrated economic partner is worth the cost for American households and businesses alike.

Household Finances Are Driving the Political Mood

The most damaging findings are not necessarily about tariffs themselves. Nearly two-thirds of registered voters in the FT/Focaldata research said the U.S. economy was heading in the wrong direction, while 57% said their financial situation had worsened during Trump’s presidency. That share was higher than in the previous FT reading, indicating that dissatisfaction with personal finances was deepening rather than easing.

Official inflation data help explain why voters may still feel squeezed even when some monthly price increases are modest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices were 3.4% higher in July than a year earlier, while core prices were up 2.5%. Inflation measures the pace of increase, not a return to old price levels. A household that has absorbed years of higher grocery, housing, insurance or transportation costs can remain pessimistic even if the latest monthly increase looks relatively small on paper alone.

Tariff Costs Can Reach Americans Through More Than Imports

The political risk from tariffs comes from how they move through supply chains. A tariff is collected from the U.S. importer when goods enter the country, although the eventual cost can be shared among importers, foreign suppliers, domestic producers and consumers. Historical evidence suggests American firms and buyers often absorb a large portion. The U.S. International Trade Commission found that importers bore nearly the full cost of the Section 232 and 301 tariffs studied from 2018 to 2021.

More recent research points to broader effects. A July 2026 NBER paper examining the 2025 tariff increases estimated that about 26% of the tariff increase passed through to consumer prices. Roughly two-thirds of that measured effect came directly through higher prices for foreign varieties, while the rest came indirectly through imported inputs and reduced competitive pressure. That helps explain why voters can connect a tariff dispute with everyday consumer prices.

Canada Is Not a Small Trade Partner for the United States

The scale of the bilateral relationship makes the political argument more complicated. U.S. Trade Representative data show that U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled about $872.3 billion in 2025. Canada remained a major commercial partner, with integrated supply chains in vehicles, machinery, energy and agriculture. The Canadian government says the two countries exchanged about C$3.5 billion in goods and services daily in 2025.

That integration means tariffs can reach businesses far from the border. A U.S. manufacturer buying Canadian metals, a distributor handling food products or a retailer selling appliances may face new sourcing decisions when duties rise. The same is true in Canada for companies buying American inputs. Tariffs can protect some domestic producers from foreign competition, but the effects are rarely confined to one industry. In an integrated market, protection for one company can become another’s higher input cost.

Ottawa’s Retaliation Raises the Stakes for U.S. Exporters

Canada has chosen to answer Washington with targeted countermeasures rather than absorb the new duties without response. The federal government says that beginning September 8 it will impose tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on C$27.6 billion worth of U.S. imports, matching the value of the U.S. measures dollar for dollar. Targeted categories include steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, plastics and electronics.

That matters politically in the United States because retaliation changes who feels the dispute. An American exporter that viewed tariffs as a policy aimed at Canadian sellers can suddenly face a more expensive route into the Canadian market. Agriculture and manufacturing are sensitive because production is often concentrated in specific states and congressional districts. Canada has also announced billions of dollars in support for workers and businesses affected by U.S. tariffs, signaling that Ottawa is preparing for a lasting dispute.

Trump May Be Becoming a Liability for Republican Candidates

The FT findings also move beyond presidential approval to the November congressional races. Forty-six percent of registered voters said Trump’s involvement was making it harder for Republican candidates to win, while 47% said they would not want to support a candidate publicly endorsed by him. Those numbers do not predict election results, but they show why some Republican campaigns may want to localize their races rather than nationalize them around the president.

The broader electoral environment appears difficult. The FT reported Democrats holding a 7.5-point advantage in the generic congressional ballot in the poll. Generic-ballot leads do not translate mechanically into seats because district boundaries, candidate quality and turnout vary. When a president is unpopular and economic sentiment is weak, congressional candidates from the president’s party often face a tougher climate. The immediate risk is not mass Republican defection; it is reduced enthusiasm among voters the party needs.

Independent Polling Reinforces the Warning on Canada

The strongest reason to take the FT numbers seriously is that several key findings are echoed elsewhere. Reuters/Ipsos reported Trump at 33% approval in late August, matching the FT figure. Its separate Canada-focused polling found 57% opposition to additional tariffs, 20% support and 21% uncertainty. It also found that 40% expected the bilateral tariffs to have a mostly negative effect on their own finances, compared with just 4% expecting a mostly positive effect.

Ipsos further found that 46% of Americans viewed the United States as more responsible for the current trade dispute, while only 12% blamed Canada more. These figures come from a different sample and question set, so they should not be merged as though they were one dataset. Their value is in the direction of travel: multiple polling sources show low presidential approval, skepticism toward the Canada tariffs and strong concern about personal economic consequences at home.

The Poll Is a Warning, Not a Final Verdict on November

A poll taken in late August and early September cannot settle an election weeks away. Voter opinions can move, campaign spending can reshape individual races, and economic conditions may improve or deteriorate before ballots are cast. The FT sample also carries a margin of error, meaning small differences should not be treated as exact measures of the entire electorate. The 33% approval figure is best understood as a strong signal, not a precise prediction.

What the data do show is a convergence of political risks. Trump’s overall approval is weak, his economic ratings are slipping even among Republicans, most voters in the FT data oppose the Canada tariffs, and independent polling points in the same direction. For the White House, the challenge is both economic and political: demonstrate that the tariff strategy is producing benefits voters can recognize before concerns about prices and household finances harden into midterm voting decisions.

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