Gaza bought Trump clout with Americans, will 'No Kings' protest take it away? A look at latest approval ratings

With a US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas taking effect over the past couple of weeks, more American adults approved of US President Donald Trump's handling of the conflict in October in comparison to a month ago.

However, while more Americans approved of Trump for his handling of the situation in West Asia, it did not translate into a growth in overall support for the US President, the latest polls on approval ratings by AP-NORC showed.

The polls, conducted between October 9-13, before the hostage-prisoner swap but after the announcement of the ceasefire, showed that 47% of US adults approved of Trump's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, up by 10% from September.

The 10 percentage point increase was primarily driven by Democrats viewing Trump in better light with regard to the conflict in West Asia.

That said, opinions about the US President's performance with regard to the economy, health care, and immigration remained similar to September, with his overall approval rating in October dropping to 37%, down from 39% a month ago.

While 2% doesn't seem like much of a slide, an AP-NORC poll put Trump's overall approval rating in August at a considerably higher 45%, indicating that the President has lost considerable ground when it comes to winning over people.

Although Trump's apparent successes on the international front have improved Americans' opinions of him, a separate AP-NORC poll from July this year said that domestic issues such as the economy, health care, and immigration are likely to be considered far more important by Americans in comparison to the situation in West Asia.

On the domestic front, the latest poll found that Americans' opinions about Trump's handling of the economy fell from 43% in August to 36% this month.

The poll also found that Americans' support of the Republican President on the issue of immigration declined from 44% in August to 42% in September, despite it being a signature issue for Trump.

Opinions about Trump's handling of trade negotiations, meanwhile, remained largely the same since July, with 63% of Americans disapproving of the 79-year-old's handling of trade relations.

More bad news for Trump?

When Trump took office for his second term in January this year 72% of Americans were of the belief that the country was headed in the wrong direction.

That subsequently decreased to 61% in March, indicating growing albeit cautious optimism about Trump's second term.

Since March, however, the percentage of US adults thinking that the country was heading in the wrong direction has increased to 69%, peaking at 75% in September when the second No Kings rally was announced.

With the protest against authoritarian tendencies taking place over this weekend, it remains to be see if Trump's approval ratings and Americans' views on the general direction of the country take a further hit.

Over the weekend, reportedly seven million people across 2,500+ events across the US showed up to protest against what they described as an authoritarian takeover of America under the Trump administration.

This weekend's protests particularly cited widespread immigration detentions by often-masked ICE agents, as well as the Trump administration's aggressive slashing of environmental protections and federal educational resources, among other things, all of which could affect how Americans view Trump's handling of domestic concerns.

The first No Kings protest took place in June 14 this year, coinciding with Trump's birthday and the US Army 250th Anniversary Parade Day, against what the organizers described as authoritarian overtones in Trump's policies and corruption in his administration.