Russian political scientist: Trump`s ratings plunge amid domestic  divide  and conflict in relations with allies in Europe and Asia

ArmInfo. The war unleashed by the Donald Trump administration against Iran has led to a deep rift  both within the United States and in relations between  Washington and its allies in Europe and Asia. Malek Dudakov,  political scientist, expert on American studies, and publicist, made  this statement during a Moscow-Yerevan video conference "The Middle  East Crisis and Regional-American Relations," noting that Donald  Trump's popularity continues to decline since the outbreak of the  conflict with Iran.

According to the expert, Trump has effectively lost support, and no  country is rushing to provide assistance to the United States,  including European states, Japan, and South Korea. "The main factor  driving the splits influencing Trump's policies is internal conflict.  It has a  bipartisan nature: Democrats are almost universally opposed  to the operation in Iran. It's worth noting  that such anti-war  rhetoric once helped Democrats win the election, and now they hope to  repeat that success," Dudakov believes.

Furthermore, the political scientist noted that a serious rift is  also evident within the Republican Party itself.  He noted that many  of those who shape public opinion in the US, such as Tucker Carlson,  Stephen Bannon, and Megyn Kelly, openly criticize Trump for his  campaign against Iran. "Thus, Trump is losing support among his  audience, which once contributed to his victory in the November 2024  election. We also see polls showing that two-thirds of Americans are  against war with Iran and don't understand why it was provoked," the  expert emphasized. Dudakov also noted the strong correlation between  fuel prices in the US and the approval ratings of current presidents.  He explained that the higher the prices, the lower the ratings.   "This also negatively impacts Trump: diesel prices have reached their  highest levels since 2022, with the average fuel cost exceeding $4  per gallon, which is high by American standards. Meanwhile, Trump has  found himself in a deadlock in the Middle East, with no apparent way  out, and the Strait of Hormuz still elusive," the political scientist  noted.

Trump's rating, according to the expert, was also affected by the  postponement of his trip to China.  "Because what was happening  against Iran was intended to create issues for China, since the  lion's share of Iranian oil goes to China. Trump, with this attack,  was trying to seize these oil flows in order to then blackmail China  and unblock rare earth metal supplies from the United States, which  the Americans are currently facing problems with, since China  controls 80% of the rare earth market," the political scientist  recalled. He added that Trump had to postpone the trip because he  essentially had nothing to travel with and no reason to go. Since, as  Dudakov noted, Iran has not been quickly defeated and the Strait of  Hormuz remains closed, Trump is literally forced to humbly plead with  China itself to facilitate the unblocking of the strait. In this  regard, the expert noted that he does not rule out the possibility  that this visit may ultimately never take place, which would also  have long-term consequences for US influence worldwide.

Speaking about the possibility of Trump's impeachment, he recalled  that American history has seen previous attempts to impeach  presidents, which have ended unsuccessfully. The political scientist  explained that this is due to the high threshold for impeachment.  "Democrats are certainly raising the topic of impeachment now, but  it's clear they don't have that option, as they're in the minority  and don't control Congress. Meanwhile, there are proposals to invoke  the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, which allows for the  removal of a president from office if he or she is incapacitated. I  don't think this is a threat to Trump right now, but the Democrats  will actively resort to it," the expert concluded.