Americans have little appetite for sending U.S. troops to Iran, polls show

2026-04-01T09:00:00.230Z / The Washington Post

Most want the war to end quickly, and opposition has hardened since it began, posing political dangers for the president and his party as the midterms approach.

April 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT Today at 5:00 a.m. EDT

6 min

Iran war protesters in New York on March 2. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

节点运行失败

By Scott Clement

As the Iran war rolls into its second month and President Donald Trump weighs launching ground operations, polls show that Americans’ opposition to the conflict has hardened and few support sending U.S. ground troops into action beyond very limited circumstances.

业界：伊朗战争或致英国食品饮料涨价近10%

2026年4月1日 19:14 / 联合早报

业界：伊朗战争或致英国食品饮料涨价近10%

英国食品饮料联合会指出，食品饮料行业能源消耗量大，且依赖复杂的全球供应链，因此极易受到油气市场冲击的影响。图为英国曼城超市货架上的面包。 （路透社档案照片）

英国食品饮料制造商游说团体警告，受伊朗战争影响，英国食品价格到今年年底将上涨近10%，涨幅约为之前预测的三倍。

路透社报道，英国食品饮料联合会（Food and Drink Federation，下称联合会）星期三（4月1日）说，根据此前预估，到今年12月，英国食品和非酒精饮料的通货膨胀率本该下降到3.2%，如今却预计攀升到9%以上。

这个团体代表英国约1万2000家食品和饮料制造商。上述预测的前提是，伊朗航运要道霍尔木兹海峡在两到三周内重新开放货运，而且包括石油、天然气和化肥在内的大多数关键设施在一年内恢复正常。

联合会说，如果供应中断持续时间更长，或者能源供应所受影响更为严重，英国食品通胀可能进一步恶化。

联合会还指出，食品和饮料行业能源消耗量大，且依赖复杂的全球供应链，因此极易受到油气市场冲击的影响。

此外，大小企业在这场危机中的应对能力也存在差异。大中型企业正为能源价格飙升做准备，而通常在现货市场购买能源的小型生产商，已经面临成本激增的局面。

联合会的首席经济师达尼拉（Liliana Danila）说：“虽然企业竭尽全力不把（能源）价格上涨转嫁给消费者，但很明显，未来几个月食品通胀仍会加剧。”

业界：伊朗战争或致英国食品饮料涨价近10%

2026年4月1日 19:14 / 联合早报

英国食品饮料联合会指出，食品饮料行业能源消耗量大，且依赖复杂的全球供应链，因此极易受到油气市场冲击的影响。图为英国曼城超市货架上的面包。 （路透社档案照片）

英国食品饮料制造商游说团体警告，受伊朗战争影响，英国食品价格到今年年底将上涨近10%，涨幅约为之前预测的三倍。

路透社报道，英国食品饮料联合会（Food and Drink Federation，下称联合会）星期三（4月1日）说，根据此前预估，到今年12月，英国食品和非酒精饮料的通货膨胀率本该下降到3.2%，如今却预计攀升到9%以上。

这个团体代表英国约1万2000家食品和饮料制造商。上述预测的前提是，伊朗航运要道霍尔木兹海峡在两到三周内重新开放货运，而且包括石油、天然气和化肥在内的大多数关键设施在一年内恢复正常。

联合会说，如果供应中断持续时间更长，或者能源供应所受影响更为严重，英国食品通胀可能进一步恶化。

联合会还指出，食品和饮料行业能源消耗量大，且依赖复杂的全球供应链，因此极易受到油气市场冲击的影响。

此外，大小企业在这场危机中的应对能力也存在差异。大中型企业正为能源价格飙升做准备，而通常在现货市场购买能源的小型生产商，已经面临成本激增的局面。

联合会的首席经济师达尼拉（Liliana Danila）说：“虽然企业竭尽全力不把（能源）价格上涨转嫁给消费者，但很明显，未来几个月食品通胀仍会加剧。”

美允许哈萨克继续向中国输送俄石油 直至明年3月

2026年4月1日 17:18 / 联合早报

哈萨克斯坦能源部称，美国政府将允许哈萨克斯坦继续经境内转运俄罗斯原油至中国，直至明年3月。

彭博社报道，哈萨克斯坦能源部发言人塞里克帕耶娃星期三（4月1日）通过电邮称，经与美国财政部磋商，相关豁免已延长至2027年3月19日。

根据国际文传电讯社，此前由美国财政部外国资产控制办公室（OFAC）签发的许可证有效期至今年4月。国际文传电讯社率先报道了豁免延期的消息。

这项许可证将允许哈萨克斯坦继续将数千桶俄罗斯原油经其境内转运至中国。目前，中东战争正令全球石油市场动荡不安。伊朗实际上已关闭霍尔木兹海峡，该海峡是海湾石油出口的关键航道。这导致许多亚洲买家不得不以更高价格寻找替代供应。

美国新的豁免也缓解了俄罗斯承受的压力。如果没有这项延期许可，莫斯科方面将不得不寻找其他方式向中国输送约定的原油量，而此时乌克兰的无人机袭击正破坏波罗的海的石油出口终端。

根据与俄罗斯达成的协议，哈萨克斯坦每年向中国输送1000万吨原油，相当于每天约20万桶。莫斯科与阿斯塔纳官员正商讨将年输送量提高至1250万吨。

另据路透社报道，美国总统特朗普星期二（3月31日）在白宫椭圆形办公室告诉记者：“我们很快就会撤军。”他说：“我想大概在两周或三周之内，我们就会撤军，因为我们没有理由继续打下去。”

特朗普还暗示，伊朗仍有可能在此期间与美国达成协议。此番言论导致全球油价跌破每桶100美元（128.29新元）。

Supreme Court to hear arguments over Trump’s birthright citizenship order today

April 1, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Supreme Court will convene for arguments Wednesday to consider the legality of President Trump’s executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.

The question in the case, known as Trump v. Barbara, is whether the president’s directive complies with the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and federal immigration law enacted in 1952. Mr. Trump issued the executive order on the first day of his second term as part of his plans for a sweeping immigration crackdown, but it has not taken effect because of decisions from lower courts finding it is likely unlawful.

The White House’s official schedule for Wednesday says Mr. Trump will personally attend the arguments, which, if he follows through, would make him the first sitting president on record to do so. The president previously said he wanted to attend the oral arguments when the Supreme Court was considering a challenge to his sweeping tariffs in November, but later backed down, writing, “I do not want to distract from the importance of this Decision.”

In the lead-up to arguments, Mr. Trump has taken to social media to defend his plan and attacked the courts as “stupid.” In a post to Truth Social in late February, the president claimed the Supreme Court “will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion” in the case.

The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause was adopted after the Civil War and aimed to disavow the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision. It states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” Congress codified that language in the Nationality Act in 1940 and again in the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952.

The Citizenship Clause has been understood for more than 100 years to broadly confer citizenship to nearly all babies born on U.S. soil, with few exceptions. But Mr. Trump’s executive order embraces a more narrow view and seeks to deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily, such as those on student or work visas, or who have been granted certain deportation protections.

The legal case

The legal fight before the Supreme Court arose last July, when three plaintiffs with children who would be impacted by the president’s executive order filed a class-action lawsuit challenging its legality and seeking to block it.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante ruled in their favor, and the Supreme Court in December agreed to bypass the appeals court and move straight to reviewing the legality of Mr. Trump’s measure. The high court had considered last year a different case involving the president’s birthright citizenship policy, but the issue there centered on judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions and not the legal merits of the measure itself.

In defending Mr. Trump’s executive order, Solicitor General D. John Sauer has argued in court filings that the 14th Amendment was adopted to grant citizenship to freed slaves and their children, not to babies whose parents are undocumented or in the U.S. temporarily.

He said that since the mid-1900s, parts of the executive branch have “misread” the 14th Amendment as granting citizenship to nearly all babies born in the U.S. As a result, American citizenship has been conferred on hundreds of thousands of people who do not qualify for it, the solicitor general claimed.

“That misinterpretation has, in turn, powerfully incentivized illegal entry into the United States and encouraged ‘birth tourists’ to travel to the United States solely to acquire citizenship for their children,” Sauer wrote.

The president, he said, is now seeking to correct that “misreading.”

“Birthright citizenship for children of illegal and transient aliens degrades the meaning and value of American citizenship,” Sauer said.

But lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs, said the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship based on birth in the U.S., not their parents’ nationality, immigration status or domicile.

“For generations, all three branches of the U.S. government and the American people have understood, applied, and relied on that constitutional bedrock — embodying our American values of equality and opportunity and contributing to the thriving of our Nation,” they wrote in court filings.

A key question for the Supreme Court will be how it interprets the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The Trump administration argued that only those who are “completely subject” to the country’s political jurisdiction — meaning those who owe “direct and immediate allegiance” to the U.S. and may claim its protection — are guaranteed citizenship. Children born to undocumented immigrants or temporary residents cannot meet that standard, Sauer said in court filings.

But lawyers for the plaintiffs said that “subject to the jurisdiction” means subject to U.S. laws. The 14th Amendment, they wrote in filings, recognizes only a narrow set of exceptions for the children of diplomats and invading enemies, as well as babies born into Native American tribes.

“The government is asking for nothing less than a remaking of our Nation’s constitutional foundations,” lawyers who oppose the executive order wrote. “The Order may be formally prospective, applying to tens of thousands of children born every month, and devastating families around the country. But worse yet, the government’s baseless arguments — if accepted — would cast a shadow over the citizenship of millions upon millions of Americans, going back generations.”

The Supreme Court considered the meaning of the Citizenship Clause in 1898, in a case involving a man named Wong Kim Ark who was born in San Francisco to parents who were Chinese citizens but resided in the U.S.

After returning from a visit to China in 1895, Wong Kim Ark was denied entry back into the U.S. on the grounds that he was not a citizen and therefore barred from coming into the country under the Chinese Exclusion Acts. But in a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that because Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S., the 14th Amendment guaranteed him citizenship.

Pointing to that decision, Mr. Trump’s administration has argued that the clause was originally understood to extend citizenship to the children of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals with a “permanent domicil and residence” in the country. Sauer noted that in that ruling more than 125 years ago, the high court referenced Wong Kim Ark’s parents as permanent residents of the U.S. several times in its opinion.

But the ACLU and opponents of Mr. Trump’s executive order claimed the president is attempting to rewrite settled law. The framers of the 14th Amendment enshrined the English common-law rule of citizenship by birth in the Constitution, and that understanding was cemented by the Supreme Court in the Wong Kim Ark case, they said.

The plaintiffs also rejected the administration’s assertion that the Citizenship Clause requires parents to be permanent residents. Instead, if the framers of the 14th Amendment wanted to impose a so-called domicile requirement, they would’ve said so, ACLU lawyers said.

“Birthright citizenship is foundational to who we are as a Nation,” they wrote. “Wong Kim Ark is one of the most important decisions in our history, and its vindication of the Clause stands as a cornerstone of modern American society. Our entire Nation has relied on the decision in determining citizenship and thus eligibility for countless rights, obligations, and benefits.”

More than 250,000 babies born each year would be impacted by Mr. Trump’s executive order, according to the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State’s Population Research Institute. The Trump administration has said that the directive is prospective, and federal agencies are directed not to issue citizenship documents for babies born more than 30 days after the policy takes effect.

A decision from the Supreme Court is expected by late June or early July.

How RFK Jr.’s MAHA agenda keeps hitting roadblocks

2026-04-01T10:00:56.048Z / CNN

By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn

PUBLISHED Apr 1, 2026, 6:00 AM ET

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seen at the Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, DC, on February 23, 2026.

Nathan Howard/Reuters/File

For more than a month, President Donald Trump’s pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, has sought private meetings with the two Republican senators threatening to sink her nomination.

But those meetings haven’t happened, two people familiar with the matter said, with Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins remaining noncommittal about their votes.

Murkowski told CNN in mid-March she’s “not enthusiastic about her.”

The senators’ skepticism has effectively stalled Means’ candidacy, dealing a major blow to the man who championed her rise, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

It’s the latest rebuke for Kennedy, who over the last several months has suffered a series of setbacks that have sapped his influence among Republicans and left him diminished within an administration where some officials view him — and his vaccine actions — as a potential liability in the upcoming midterm elections.

Related article RFK Jr. pledged to fight Lyme disease. Does that include supporting a vaccine? 11 min read

A federal judge recently reversed Kennedy’s most significant childhood vaccine changes, and the administration’s search for a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dragged past deadline amid questions about who can navigate Senate confirmation and the CDC’s challenges in this environment. Longtime MAHA advocates, meanwhile, are lamenting that the administration has abandoned their top goals — and are promising their own retribution with midterm votes.

The current environment is a far cry from Kennedy’s first months on the job, when he was seen as a powerful Trump ally who enjoyed broad latitude to carry out his priorities, touting a supposed cause of autism and promising to reverse rising chronic illnesses in children.

Increasingly, the Means vote looks like a proxy battle over Kennedy himself, who over the past year has plunged ahead on vaccine policy changes that have rankled some Republicans across the spectrum.

“Their only leverage [against him] is trying to stop these nominees, or at least slow them down,” said one person familiar with the internal discussions.

The seeming deadlock has also fueled speculation that Trump would pull his nomination of the wellness author and longtime Kennedy ally. The president told reporters Sunday that step “would be possible.” He added, “We certainly have a lot of great candidates for the job.”

Casey Means, nominee for US surgeon general, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on February 25, 2026.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

In a statement Monday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt reiterated support for the nominee and said the Senate should move quickly to confirm Means “without further delay.”

An HHS spokesperson said that Means “has communicated a vital public health message that people voted for” and that “we look forward to her swift confirmation.”

Reining in MAHA

Inside HHS, Kennedy and his inner circle are struggling to strike a balance between a White House increasingly tightening its grip on policy and messaging, and MAHA advocates pressing for Kennedy to keep his campaign promises.

The tension has tipped into public view, with some MAHA allies openly venting about dysfunction at the federal health agency.

A Massachusetts judge in March effectively blocked Kennedy’s narrowed list of childhood vaccine recommendations and suspended most of the people the secretary had appointed to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a federal panel advising those decisions.

Dr. Robert Malone, a biochemist and Covid-19 vaccine critic, resigned from the panel following the judge’s ruling, which the government has yet to appeal.

“The truth is that I have been looking for an exit for months. This thing is a hot mess,” Malone said in late March on “The Highwire,” a weekly show hosted by Del Bigtree, a longtime Kennedy ally who has advocated against vaccination.

“All you can say for sure is the government did a horrid job” defending Kennedy’s vaccine actions, Malone said.

Malone also said Kennedy called him and asked him to stay on at the vaccine advisory panel. An HHS spokesperson declined to comment.

Dr. Robert Malone is seen on a monitor during a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta on December 4, 2025.

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images/File

Kennedy, when appointing Malone and others to the committee last June called them a group of “highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians.”

The White House has tried in recent months to assert more influence over HHS, this February installing four senior officials with experience in drug pricing and access.

Administration officials are keen to emphasize the president’s wins in that arena, such as “Most Favored Nation” pricing for prescription drugs and the direct-to-consumer drug platform TrumpRx, rather than vaccine policies in the upcoming midterm election.

The strategy is tied to mounting concern that Kennedy’s controversial vaccine actions are alienating average voters. Kennedy, once polling as Trump’s most popular Cabinet secretary, has seen his broader popularity slip: By October, eight months into Kennedy’s tenure, nearly 6 in 10 Americans said they disapproved of the health secretary, according to a KFF poll.

But on the other side, MAHA advocates warn they represent a pivotal voting base that is being sidelined by traditional Republicans.

“Casey Means and her — not just her health experience, but she’s a new mom — represents a demographic that is absolutely essential to successful Republican midterms: MAHA moms,” said Michael Caputo, a biotech founder and former assistant HHS secretary for public affairs during the first Trump administration.

That cohort has been further aggravated by recent Trump action to support pesticide manufacturers and a looming Supreme Court battle over whether those chemical makers can be sued for health damages.

Kennedy and his allies, including Means, have long argued that commonly used pesticides such as glyphosate, or Roundup, can fuel cancer and other health problems. Manufacturers and several prominent agricultural groups have said there is no evidence of this link and that restricting pesticide use could destabilize the American food supply.

For now, the latter camp has won the messaging: A Kennedy-led strategy to address chronic disease skipped calls for pesticide bans and restrictions. And the health secretary this year echoed the argument about a stable food supply when defending Trump’s decision to order more domestic production of glyphosate.

But he also publicly admitted frustration with the moves.

“It’s not something that I was particularly happy with. Let me put it that way, mildly,” he told podcast host Joe Rogan in February.

“Make American Healthy Again” hats during an “Eat Real Food” rally in Austin, Texas, on February 26, 2026.

Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Senate deadlock

Surgeons general — public health messengers with no policymaking authority — are rarely mired in voting controversy. Most are waved into their role as the nation’s top doctor with a chorus of “ayes” on the Senate floor.

But Means’ tense confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in February exposed fault lines between moderate Republicans and MAHA advocates.

Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy of Louisiana almost immediately brought up vaccine policy, pressing Means on her views. He was followed by Murkowski expressing alarm about HHS efforts to delay hepatitis B vaccination, and Democrats questioning the Stanford-trained physician’s personal stance.

Means told Cassidy that “this is not an issue that I intend to complicate.”

Cassidy, a physician himself, has not signaled how he will vote on Means’ nomination — or when he intends to hold the committee vote. But he has been one of the most vocal GOP critics of Kennedy’s vaccine actions, concerns he nodded to when he kicked off Means’ hearing in February.

“The surgeon general needs to be an effective and truthful communicator, a calming voice of reason, a steady-handed experience at a time when so many, for whatever reason, sow distrust and confusion,” Cassidy said. “Dr. Means, it should be your mission — and the mission of every HHS official — to restore stability and assure Americans that protecting health is the top priority.”

消息：以军空袭击毙真主党驻伊拉克最高指挥官

2026年4月1日 19:17 / 联合早报

美伊冲突爆发后，以色列与黎巴嫩真主党的冲突再次升级，黎首都贝鲁特多次遭到以军空袭。图为3月26日，以军对贝鲁特南郊贾纳地区一栋公寓楼发动空袭，导致建筑受损。 （法新社）

消息人士称，以色列对黎巴嫩首都贝鲁特发动的空袭，击毙了真主党负责伊拉克军事事务的最高指挥官。

法新社报道，一名黎巴嫩安全消息人士说，以色列星期三（4月1日）凌晨对贝鲁特贾纳（Jnah）地区的空袭，杀死了主管伊拉克军事事务的真主党最高指挥官哈希姆（Yousef Hashem）。

据称，哈希姆当时正在几辆车附近的帐篷里开会。

一名接近真主党的消息人士证实这个消息。

黎巴嫩卫生部说，此次空袭导致七人死亡。

黎巴嫩真主党是伊朗的主要地区盟友。美国和以色列2月28日对伊朗发起大规模军事行动后，真主党3月2日晚开始向以色列北部发射火箭弹。

以色列则对黎南部、东部和首都贝鲁特等地发起猛烈空袭，并在黎南展开地面行动。

两年多的以哈冲突期间，以色列暗杀多名真主党高层，包括领袖纳斯鲁拉。

美伊冲突爆发后，以色列与黎巴嫩真主党的冲突再次升级，黎首都贝鲁特多次遭到以军空袭。图为3月26日，以军对贝鲁特南郊贾纳地区一栋公寓楼发动空袭，导致建筑受损。 （法新社）

消息人士称，以色列对黎巴嫩首都贝鲁特发动的空袭，击毙了真主党负责伊拉克军事事务的最高指挥官。

法新社报道，一名黎巴嫩安全消息人士说，以色列星期三（4月1日）凌晨对贝鲁特贾纳（Jnah）地区的空袭，杀死了主管伊拉克军事事务的真主党最高指挥官哈希姆（Yousef Hashem）。

据称，哈希姆当时正在几辆车附近的帐篷里开会。

一名接近真主党的消息人士证实这个消息。

黎巴嫩卫生部说，此次空袭导致七人死亡。

黎巴嫩真主党是伊朗的主要地区盟友。美国和以色列2月28日对伊朗发起大规模军事行动后，真主党3月2日晚开始向以色列北部发射火箭弹。

以色列则对黎南部、东部和首都贝鲁特等地发起猛烈空袭，并在黎南展开地面行动。

两年多的以哈冲突期间，以色列暗杀多名真主党高层，包括领袖纳斯鲁拉。

Trump says he may try to pull U.S. out of NATO since allies “weren’t there for us” in Iran war

April 1, 2026 / 7:01 AM EDT / CBS News

By Tucker Reals

Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com’s foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., and London.

Read Full Bio

President Trump has told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper he could attempt to terminate American membership in the NATO defense alliance that the U.S. helped create more than seven decades ago as a bulwark against the communist Soviet Union’s expansionist agenda in Europe.

Mr. Trump has railed against NATO allies since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran for refusing to join the effort, despite not consulting with them in advance or involving them in any planning for its economic and security fallout.

Asked by The Telegraph’s Washington correspondent if he would consider ending U.S. membership in the alliance after the Iran war, Mr. Trump said: “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way.”

Mr. Trump has disparaged the alliance for years, but to actually pull the U.S. from it, or even to suspend U.S. membership, he would, by law, have to gain the “advice and consent of the Senate,” with a two-thirds majority vote required to approve the move, according to Congress.gov, the official federal government website for legislation information.

For NATO allies trying – with less and less help from Washington – to assist Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion, the latest rhetorical blow from Mr. Trump will be cause for yet more concern.

For Russia’s Putin, however, it will be welcome news, as he has framed his invasion of neighboring Ukraine as a bid to stop NATO’s eastward expansion – and who has worked through various means for years to undermine the alliance and sew division amongst its members.

In his remarks to the Telegraph, Mr. Trump equated the Ukraine and Iran wars, saying he “didn’t insist too much” that NATO allies join the Iran conflict, as “I just think it should be automatic. … We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”

Asked about Mr. Trump’s remarks, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain is “fully committed to NATO” and called it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-us-not-leaving-strait-hormuz-criticizes-nato-allies/

By

Jennifer Agiesta

2 hr ago

PUBLISHED Apr 1, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

Donald Trump Election polls Corporate news US shutdown

See all topics

Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads

Link Copied!

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House on March 23.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

President Donald Trump’s approval rating for handling the economy has fallen to a new career low of 31%, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, reflecting growing pessimism among Americans over the issue they consistently describe as the most important.

Roughly two-thirds of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the US, up 10 points since January. Just 27% say they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation, down from 44% one year ago.

Trump’s overall approval rating has held relatively steady at 35%, one point off his all-time low in CNN polling. There’s been notable erosion, however, in his standing with his own partisans. The share of Republicans who strongly approve of his job performance has dropped to 43%, from 52% in January.

Trump’s economic approval rating is down 8 points overall since January and a larger 14 points among Republicans. Among Republicans younger than 45, the decline is an even more stark 23 points. And almost 3 in 10 Republicans (28%) say his policies have worsened economic conditions in the US, up from 13% who felt that way in January.

Since the US emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, poll after poll has found the economy topping lists of the most important issues, with the public broadly dissatisfied with Washington’s handling of it. But CNN’s new poll shows that negativity has reached a new level: The 65% who say Trump’s policies have made the economy worse is the highest of his presidency, higher than the share who said the same about Democrat Joe Biden’s policies at any point during his time in office.

Around three-quarters of Americans say the US economy is in poor shape, up 8 points since January, with the share calling it “very poor” up 12 points. Roughly 6 in 10 say they expect the economy to be in poor condition a year from now, the highest share to say so during either of Trump’s presidencies.

Pain at the pump takes a toll on Trump

A woman fills up her vehicle’s tank at a gas station in the Manhattan borough of New York on March 31.

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

The poll suggests the financial pressure of gas prices, now averaging more than $4 per gallon nationwide in the wake of the US attack on Iran, has added to Americans’ financial frustrations.

While the share who say they’ve made changes to how they buy groceries or have cut back spending on extras is down compared with one year ago, more than 6 in 10 Americans still say they are trimming their budgets in those ways, figures that have held above 60% in CNN polling since 2022. And a growing minority (45%, up 5 points in the past year) say they’ve cut back significantly on how much they drive.

Overall, 63% say higher costs at the pump have caused at least some financial hardship in their household, including 15% who say it’s severe. Most (57%) see the increased prices as more of a temporary fluctuation than a permanent shift, though market signals suggest that even if the war were to end soon, lasting effects on oil prices are likely. Seven in 10 say the president doesn’t have a clear plan for handling the gas price situation, and a scant 24% approve of his handling of it.

Asked to name the most important issue facing the country, one Republican respondent to the poll wrote, “Prices! Everything is so expensive. Makes it very difficult to do anything other than work and go home. Trips to the grocery store are ridiculous! Between gas and grocery prices, we are poor!”

In the new poll, 40% name an economic issue as most important, more than double the share naming any other type of issue in this open-ended measure.

And 67% say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s top problems, a finding that’s held fairly steady since last summer.

There is little sign that Democrats are capitalizing on what Americans see as a Trump shortcoming, though, with an even broader 74% of the public saying Democrats in Congress have the wrong priorities. Democrats are more likely to say their own party has the wrong focus than Republicans are to say the same about Trump, but among independents, both are seen as equally off-topic. About three-quarters of independents say that each of them have the wrong priorities.

The poll also holds some signs of worsening views of Trump’s approach to foreign policy. The 63% who say his decisions on that front have hurt the United States’ standing in the world is up 6 points since January, and just 36% approve of his handling of foreign affairs.

But there is stability in views of how things are going in the US. Though the public is broadly negative – 67% say things are going badly – it’s no worse than last fall. And Trump’s approval ratings for other major issues including immigration and health care policy, while negative, have held roughly even since the start of the year.

Trump and Republicans are taking more blame for DHS shutdown

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents patrol John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on March 27.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Trump and the Republicans in Congress shoulder more of the blame than their opponents across the aisle for the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, with 39% saying the GOP deserves the bulk of the blame, 25% that Democrats in Congress do, and 28% that both groups share equal blame.

One in 5 Americans consider the partial shutdown a crisis, fewer than the share who felt that way during the full government shutdown last fall. While the partial shutdown’s most visible impact has been long lines at airport security checkpoints as TSA agents went without pay until a recent executive action delivered paychecks this week, the poll finds little difference in assessments of the severity of the shutdown based on whether people have taken a flight recently. And few think Trump’s order to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports has helped the situation: 40% said it made things worse, while just 21% felt it improved things.

A majority of Americans, including 84% of Republicans, say Trump’s handling of the presidency has been in line with their expectations, but those views are concentrated among those with a positive take on his performance. Among all adults who approve of his job performance, 91% say he’s handling it as expected. Those who disapprove, though, are more evenly split, with 52% saying it’s what they expected and 48% that it is not.

Many say Trump has overstepped on several key elements of his second term in office. About 6 in 10 say he’s gone too far in trying to expand the US’ power over other countries, in using the power of the presidency and the executive branch and on cutting federal government programs. A slightly smaller majority (55%) says he’s gone too far on deporting immigrants living in the US illegally.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by phone from March 26-30 among a random national sample of 1,201 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy and Edward Wu contributed to this report.