Airlines Slash Thousands of Flights as Jet Fuel Prices Double from Hormuz Disruptions

President Donald Trump's overall approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his two terms in office, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, as the ongoing conflict with Iran drives up energy prices and exposes long-ignored vulnerabilities in global supply chains. The poll of 1,000 Americans found just 40 percent approving of his job performance, down five points from the previous quarter, while 58 percent disapproved, pushing his net approval rating to negative 18. That marks the sharpest decline since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and reflects broad frustration with gasoline prices that have surged amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The survey results arrive at a moment when the economic consequences of the U.S.-Iran conflict are rippling through everyday life. The narrow waterway, which carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the fighting intensified in late February, has been blocked for nearly two months. Both sides are leveraging control of the strait in intermittent peace negotiations, leaving oil exporters scrambling for alternatives that do not easily exist. Satellite imagery and industry analysis show that pipelines and alternative sea routes lack the capacity to replace the volume now trapped in the Persian Gulf, a reality that has supercharged global energy prices.

Nowhere is the pain more immediate than in aviation fuel markets. Lufthansa Group announced Thursday that it will cut 20,000 short-haul flights through October, focusing remaining operations on its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The German carrier said the reductions, which include grounding planes earlier than planned, will save about 40,000 tons of jet fuel. The price of that fuel has more than doubled in some European markets since the conflict began. Europe depends on the Middle East for roughly 75 percent of its jet fuel imports, making the region especially exposed. Lufthansa said it has secured supplies for the coming weeks but is pursuing emergency procurement measures to avoid deeper disruptions this summer.

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol described the situation as a predictable failure of foresight. Speaking earlier this week, he said the global economy should not be held hostage by a few hundred miles of waterway. For years, Birol and other analysts have warned that chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal represent single points of catastrophic failure. The current crisis has validated those concerns with punishing speed. Middle East energy experts note that while risks around Hormuz were long understood, governments and markets failed to build sufficient redundancy in pipelines, storage, or diversified import sources.

The domestic political impact is clearest in the polling numbers. Trump's net approval among Republicans dropped 17 points to its lowest level since 2017. While self-described MAGA voters remain steadfast at 96 percent approval, support among non-MAGA Republicans fell 19 points to 60 percent. Independent voters also registered record lows. Micah Roberts, the Republican pollster for the survey, downplayed the five-point overall decline given the extraordinary circumstances of war, inflation, and rising pump prices. He pointed to the intensity of the MAGA base as a stabilizing force. Yet the breadth of the drop, particularly outside the core Trump coalition, suggests the economic discomfort is testing even loyal constituencies.

Americans are feeling the pinch directly. Higher gasoline prices have compounded broader inflation concerns that never fully receded after the post-pandemic recovery. The aviation cuts foreshadow potential summer travel chaos, with ripple effects on tourism, business travel, and related industries. Early data from European carriers suggest similar reductions could spread if jet fuel shortages worsen. The International Energy Agency has projected a sharp drop in global oil demand if the disruptions persist, a development that paradoxically could slow growth while still leaving consumers paying elevated prices at the pump and the airport.

The conflict has also highlighted deeper structural weaknesses in energy policy that predate the current administration. Despite years of warnings about over-reliance on Middle East supply routes, investment in alternative corridors and domestic refining capacity has lagged. European nations, in particular, doubled down on imported jet fuel rather than building strategic reserves or accelerating transitions to sustainable aviation fuels. The result is a moment when foreign policy decisions in the Gulf translate almost instantly into higher costs for American families filling their tanks or booking flights.

Public Opinion Strategies and its Democratic polling partner conducted the survey with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The findings arrive as stop-start diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran show little sign of imminent resolution. Both sides continue to treat the strait as leverage, prolonging uncertainty in energy markets.

For an administration that campaigned on economic strength and energy dominance, the convergence of war-driven shortages and falling approval numbers presents a significant political test. The poll captures a public that increasingly connects events halfway around the world to the price of filling up the car and the availability of a flight home. Whether that linkage reshapes the political landscape will depend on how quickly the Hormuz blockade eases and whether policymakers begin treating supply-chain resilience as a national security imperative rather than an afterthought. For now, the data show a president whose standing has been damaged by forces his own policies helped unleash.