Trump says his approval ratings are down, except with 'smart people'

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump did something on Wednesday he has rarely done: He admitted his poll numbers had gone down.

Trump, under pressure over his handling of ​the high cost of living and the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, alluded to difficulties ‌with his political base in an otherwise exuberant speech to business leaders and officials from Saudi Arabia.

His approval rating fell to 38%, the lowest since his ‌return to office, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found this week.

"So my poll numbers just went down, but with smart people they've gone way up," he said in Washington.

In Trump's telling, his standing has taken a hit from conservative allies who disagree with his view that some skilled foreign workers will be needed to help develop critical industries domestically.

"I always take a little ⁠heat from my people, the people that ‌love me and the people that I love," Trump said. "They happen to be toward the right of center, toward the right. Sometimes they're way right."

Some conservatives ‍blame immigration for taking away jobs from U.S. citizens, suppressing their wages and denying Americans the ability to compete in fast-growing industries including advanced manufacturing. Trump, generally an immigration hardliner himself, says foreign workers help train American workers for jobs in those industries.

"​They're unbelievable patriots, but they just don't understand our people have to be taught," Trump said, ‌referring to his allies. "This is something they've never done."

Reuters/Ipsos polling regularly shows Trump's approval lower among college-educated Americans than among those who did not graduate college. In this week's poll, just 33% of respondents with a college degree or more approved of Trump's job performance, while 42% of those without college degrees approved.

Trump also addressed inflation, a major concern for voters, who give him low marks on the issue. Just 26%⁠ of Americans say Trump is doing a good job at managing the ​cost of living, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Trump laid blame for ​inflation on Democrats, adding that, "now we have a beautiful, normal inflation - it's gonna come down over the next few months a little bit more."

The U.S. government ‍shutdown has delayed recent data on consumer ⁠prices, but inflation has been running above the Federal Reserve's target since former President Joe Biden held office.

Trump made no mention of the other major political issue dogging his administration, the so-called Epstein files. Congress voted ⁠nearly unanimously on Tuesday to force the Trump administration to release documents related to the case. Trump, who had fought against such a move for ‌months before reversing course, has said the issue is a distraction from his administration's successes.

(Reporting ‌by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)