By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency with an overwhelming majority of Americans concerned the U.S. war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday.
Just 33% of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump's performance in the White House, while 64% disapproved. Trump's approval rating, down from 35% in a poll that closed earlier this month and
lower than at any point in his current term, has now tied the lowest level of his prior term reached in December 2017.
After returning to the White House last year with just under half the country approving of his presidency, Trump's popularity this year took a hit after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside U.S. ally Israel. The ensuing conflict paralyzed a fifth of the global oil trade, triggering a surge in the price of gasoline which is weighing on U.S. households - and on Trump's Republican allies defending congressional majorities in November midterm elections.
Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep inflation in check and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledged the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks, and argued the war was the only way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon that could threaten the world.
But Iran has proved resilient and has kept the oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz largely bottled up even as the conflict has cooled.
Some 80% of Americans - including 87% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans - think U.S. involvement in Iran "will go on for an extended period of time," the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Just 16% said the conflict would likely end in a few weeks.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,166 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama)
