The story

President Donald Trump's approval rating among college graduates fell from 34 percent in an Economist/YouGov poll conducted August 21-24 to 31 percent in its August 28-31 survey, then dropped to 30 percent in the poll conducted September 4-8. Over the same period, disapproval rose from 63 percent to 69 percent. The August 21-24 poll surveyed 1,536 U.S. adult citizens, including 504 college graduates. About two-thirds of Trump's 2024 voters did not have a college degree, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of validated voters, while college graduates accounted for 48 percent of former Vice President Kamala Harris' supporters.

A Financial Times/Focaldata poll found that just 33 percent of registered voters approved of Trump's overall job performance, down three points from the previous month and the lowest reading since the series began in May. The online survey was conducted among 1,914 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. Republican approval of the president fell more than two points to 72 percent, another low for the series. Only 53 percent of GOP voters approved of his handling of jobs and the economy, down nearly eight points from the previous month.

The Financial Times/Focaldata poll found that 66 percent of respondents believed the U.S. economy was heading in the wrong direction, while 57 percent said they were financially worse off under the Trump administration, up from 53 percent the previous month. Diesel fuel reached a record $5.85 a gallon on September 4, according to AAA figures cited by the Financial Times, amid disruptions linked to the U.S. war with Iran and rising borrowing costs. Patrick Flynn, a senior data journalist at Focaldata, said roughly 30 percent of Republicans now see Trump as a liability for GOP candidates heading into the midterms.