It’s been a rocky spring for President Donald Trump, at least as far as his favorability ratings go among voters. That’s the bad news. But there’s also good news for Trump: His ratings showed little change in the latest I&I/TIPP Poll, as he moves toward a deal with Iran that will reopen the Mideast’s oil spigots.

The national online I&I/TIPP Poll each month asks voters to assess presidential performance. June’s poll was taken from May 26 through May 28, and included a sample of 1,589 adults, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points.

The first question: “Overall, is your opinion of Donald Trump generally favorable, generally unfavorable, or are you not familiar enough to say one way or the other?”

On the whole, there was no improvement, with 37% calling their opinion favorable, versus 53% calling it unfavorable, for a -16 percentage-point favorability deficit. That gap is identical to May’s measure. Of those remaining, 6% said they were “not familiar enough to say” and 4% were “not sure.”

As always during Trump’s tenure in office, there are wide disparities in how voters view Trump’s performance based on party affiliation.

Among Democrats, 81% gave Trump unfavorable ratings, while just 13% called it favorable. Independent voters also remained negative, at 63% unfavorable, 25% favorable.

But Trump does considerably better among Republicans, who give him 20% unfavorable, but 72% favorable.

Does Trump have any other pockets of strength? He does. Rural voters, for instance, give him a 42% favorable rating, versus just 40% unfavorable. By comparison, urban voters (37% favorable, 55% unfavorable) and suburban voters (34% favorable, 58% unfavorable) were negative.

Another strong spot: Married women voters. They give Trump a 47% favorable rating vs. 44% unfavorable. Unmarried women? They score Trump 60% unfavorable, and just 28% favorable.

Trump also shows above-average strength among Hispanic voters (42% favorable, 47% unfavorable), investors (48% favorable, 48% unfavorable), and high-income families (45% favorable, 48% unfavorable).

So amid the overall negative ratings, there are spheres of significant strength for Trump.

The next question deals with performance: “In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, or are you not familiar enough to say one way or the other?”

In June, the results overall were negative once more, but still basically stable on a month-to-month basis: 37% approve, 54% disapprove, for a net 17 percentage-point approval deficit, statistically the same as May’s 16 percentage-point gap.

The biggest differences are, again no surprise, by political affiliation: Democrats (13% approve, 83% disapprove) are the most negative, followed by independents (24% approve, 62% disapprove), with Republicans (71% approve, 21% disapprove) showing solid Trump support.

The one silver lining for Trump among Democrats: His disapproval among Dems fell from 87% in May to 83% in June. Meanwhile, Trump’s approval with GOP voters fell 4 percentage points, from 75% in May to just 71% in June.

Similar patterns in the June poll hold for voters based on ideology: conservatives (67% approval, 27% disapproval), moderates (26% approval, 62% disapproval) and liberals (12% favorable, 84% unfavorable).

A third question asks: “How would you describe the leadership that President Trump is providing for the country?” Possible answers include “very strong,” “strong,” “moderate,” “weak,” “very weak,” and “not sure.”

Overall, 36% called Trump’s leadership either very strong (20%) or strong (16%), moderate (16%). Of the remaining, 45% called his leadership either weak (11%) or very weak (34%). Only 3% were not sure. Again, not too far off from May’s results.

But there has been some erosion in his base support among Republicans: 69% in June called his leadership either very strong (42%) or strong (27%), compared to 73% in May who called his leadership very strong (46%) or strong (27%).

Democrats came in at 11%, either very strong (5%) or strong (6%), holding steady compared to May’s. Meanwhile, independents dipped to 27%, either very strong (13%) or strong (14%), down from May’s 29% overall strong reading.

Each month, I&I/TIPP Poll also produces its proprietary Leadership Index, giving the president an overall score based on all the data.

What does June’s I&I/TIPP Leadership Index, below, show? That Trump again remains fairly solid within his own party, but is weakening noticeably among others. That has pulled the overall index down from close to 50 late last year to a current reading of 42.0. And the trend isn’t favorable.

Each month, voters are also asked to assign grades of A (excellent), B (good), C (average), D (poor) and F (unacceptable) for Trump’s overall performance and for his performance on a number of individual policy issues.

In June, voters gave Trump overall 34% As and Bs for his performance, a slight but ongoing drop from May’s 36%, April’s 37% and March’s 38%.

Trump did rebound among Democrats, winning 12% As and Bs in June, up from just 8% in May, but his share of As and Bs among Republicans fell to 64% in June, down from 69% in May, while his share of top grades from independents dropped to 24% in June from 29% in May, also showing some erosion.

Voters were also asked to assign grades for 15 separate policy areas. They were mixed.

Trump’s best scores came from “Handling immigration and border security” (40%), “Handling violence and crime in the country” (34%), “Managing the federal government effectively” and “Restoring America’s core values” (both at 33%), and “Handling the U.S.-Iran conflict” (32%).

His lowest share of A and B grades came from “Handling inflation and the cost of living” (25%), “Handling the Russia-Ukraine war” (28%), and “Handling government spending,” “Handling healthcare” and “Handling the economy” (all at 29%).

The remaining policy areas all received 30% or 31% As and Bs.

There has been slippage in how Americans view Trump’s performance on individual issues, perhaps inevitable as the fresh hopes of a new administration turn into the hard realities of difficult long-term problems. In May, just one policy issue received below 30% As and Bs: “Handling inflation and the cost of living.” This month, five did.

Can President Trump reverse the slump? Quite possibly. A peaceful end to the U.S.-Iran war might help. So would a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, another major global distraction. Both conflicts have roiled energy markets, sending oil prices above $100 a barrel and igniting inflationary pressures.

Healthcare is another source of frustration. While Trump has moved aggressively to lower drug prices, health insurance costs — which soared during the Obama and Biden administrations — have yet to show sharp declines.

As anyone who was alive during the inflationary 1970s can tell you, Americans hate inflation. It’s an insidious tax that robs average consumers of their purchasing power and erodes people’s standard of living.

If Trump can make it through the 2026 midterm elections with GOP control of both chambers of Congress, he’ll have the rest of his term to push the reset button on some of his policies. With states across the South and Midwest having redrawn their Democrat-gerrymandered voting districts, there could be a shift of as many as 10 seats in congress to the Republicans.

If so, those elected are likely to be strong backers of Trump.

As the Economist noted this week:

For now, Mr Trump continues to notch up victories in the party primaries ahead of November’s elections. Thanks to his endorsement, Ken Paxton, Texas’s scandal-ridden attorney general, trounced a four-time incumbent to become the Republican nominee for a Senate seat. Other politicians who dared to cross the president have similarly been ousted, including Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana senator, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky congressman. Fealty can secure a party primary — but given Mr Trump’s unpopularity, it may also bring defeat in the subsequent race.

However, as the I&I/TIPP Poll suggests, the president’s faltering favorability ratings also might improve greatly with an end to the U.S.-Iran war and the reopening of the Gulf of Hormuz to oil shipments. That no doubt would lower oil prices, and ease inflationary pressures, a big concern for average Americans.

Resolving or mitigating other outstanding foreign policy headaches — getting rid of oppressive communist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, pressuring Russia to end its war against Ukraine, bolstering U.S. ties with our closest allies, and keeping China’s global ambitions in check — will also let Trump focus more intently on showing U.S. voters that he’s interested in their problems, too.

I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past six presidential elections.

Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.