Share this story

Trump approval holds at 40%, lowest level of his term

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Donald Trump’s approval rating held at 40% in recent weeks, matching the lowest level of his current term, amid weak ratings from Hispanic voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday. The six-day poll was conducted as economic data showed signs the U.S. labor market is weakening and as Trump oversees a sweeping immigration crackdown, while at the same time the Republican has been engaged in intense diplomacy to end a war between Russia and Ukraine.

ADVERTISING

Trump’s approval rating was unchanged from a late July Reuters/Ipsos poll, but has dropped seven percentage points since his first days back in the White House in January, when 47% of Americans gave him a thumbs-up. The latest poll showed Hispanics, a group that swung toward Trump in last year’s election, have also soured on the president. Some 32% approved of his performance in the White House, matching their lowest level of approval for Trump this year. More than half of respondents — 54%, including one in five Republicans — said they thought Trump was too closely aligned with Russia, even as he ramped up a push to broker peace between Moscow and Kyiv. Trump has appeared to embrace Russia’s claim that Ukraine must cede territory to Russia in order for the war to stop. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, and the poll closed just ahead of the president’s meeting on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Just 42% of respondents approved of Trump’s performance on crime and 43% thought he was doing a good job on immigration policy. On all policies, Trump’s support came overwhelmingly from Republicans.

Record Spanish wildfires close part of Camino de Santiago route

ASTORGA, Spain (Reuters) — Spain’s worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

“This is a fire situation we haven’t experienced in 20 years,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Cadena SER radio.

“The fires have special characteristics as a result of climate change and this huge heat wave,” she said.

The heatwave spanning 16 days is the third-longest on record and sent temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) over the weekend, according to state weather agency Aemet. It is expected to start easing by today.

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain and Portugal among the hardest-hit countries.

So far this year, an estimated 344,400 hectares (851,000 acres) have burned in Spain — an area equivalent to the size of the island of Mallorca — according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

It’s the largest area on records that go back to 2006 and more than four times the 2006-2024 average.

A firefighter died when his truck crashed near the village of Espinoso de Compludo, raising the death toll to four from the recent wave of fires.

In Portugal, wildfires have burned about 216,200 hectares so far this year, according to EFFIS — more than four times the 2006-2024 average for this period — and two people have died.