President Donald Trump's approval on the economy fell to 26% in a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released October 1. Seventeen percent of U.S. adults approved of his handling of the cost of living, while 73% disapproved of his performance on the economy overall.

The survey found that 65% of adults blamed Trump's policies more than outside factors for higher-than-usual prices. About half said they were extremely or very concerned about affording gasoline, up from 39% in July, and about half expressed the same level of concern about food costs.

The poll was conducted September 24 through September 28 among 2,140 adults using NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. Interviews were completed online and by telephone, and the reported margin of sampling error for all adults was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

The findings measure public opinion rather than directly measuring inflation or household expenses, and individual percentages remain subject to sampling error. They nevertheless add political context less than five weeks before the November midterm elections, when control of Congress is at stake.