Trump approval rises from record low to 32% ahead of midterm election, Reuters Ipsos poll finds

President Donald Trump's public approval rating ​inched higher to 32%, up a ​percentage point from his record low ‌a week ​earlier, ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that ‌closed on Monday.

Trump's fellow Republicans are fighting to retain the party's majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. The five-day poll, which was conducted nationwide, also showed that registered voters broadly favored Democrats over Republicans ‌by 47% to 36% when asked which party they would vote for in what is ‌known as a "generic ballot" question. Some 11% said they did not know who they would vote for if the election were held today.

That gap of 11 percentage points between Democrats and Republicans was 1 percentage point tighter than in ⁠a Reuters/Ipsos ​poll that closed on ⁠October 19. The poll that closed on Monday additionally asked undecided voters which party they were leaning toward. Factoring in ⁠their responses, the national race appeared somewhat tighter, with Democrats leading by 9 percentage points, 50% to 41%. For Republicans, ​losing control of either chamber could complicate Trump's agenda in the last two years ⁠of his second term as president.

Generic ballot polls are national polls that provide an overall view of which party poll respondents ⁠would ​like to see in charge in Congress. While these polls provide a view of national public sentiment, they do not capture the nuances of the state-by-state and district-by-district contests that determine control ⁠of the Senate and House, contests in which Republicans hold some structural advantages. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which ⁠was conducted online, gathered responses ⁠from 1,679 US adults, including 1,280 registered voters, and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points for all adults and 3 points ‌for registered ‌voters.