President Donald Trump has registered the worst economic approvals of a president’s career amid a wide range of complaints about tariffs, inflation and handling government spending, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
The survey believes that the economic optimism boost that comes with Trump’s reelection has faded, and the economy will worsen more than ever since 2023, and is surged towards pessimism about the stock market.
A survey of 1,000 Americans nationwide confirmed 44% of Trump’s presidency handling, with 51% slightly better than CNBC’s final reading when the president resigned in 2020.
Trump’s Republican base remains firmly behind him, but Democrats are negative over 30 points than average during his first term with a net economic approval of -90, and independents are negative over 23 points. Blue-collar workers, key to the president’s election victory, remain positive about Trump’s economy handling, but their disapproval numbers rose 14 points compared to his first term average.
“Donald Trump has been re-elected specifically to improve the economy, and so far, people don’t like what they’re seeing,” said Jay Campbell, a partner at Hart Associates, a Democratic poller in the poll.
The poll was conducted from April 9th to 13th, with an error of +/- 3.1%.
The results show that Trump has so far been able to convince his foundations that over time his economic policies are good for the country. 49% of the population believe that the economy will worsen next year, the most pessimistic overall outcome since 2023. However, 83% of Democrats and 54% of independents believe the economy is getting worse. Of those who believe that the president’s policies will have a positive impact, 27% say it will take more than a year. However, 40% of people who are negative about the president’s policies say they are currently hurting the economy.
“We’re a kind of turbulent change in terms of how people feel about what happens next,” said Micah Roberts, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican poller in the survey. “The data suggests more than ever that it is a negative partisan response that is maintaining frustration and fear about what’s coming next.”
Partisanship is the most important part of the president’s negative show, but he has seen some support among Republicans in key areas such as tariffs and inflation and has seen a noticeable deterioration among independents.
We consider tariffs to be a significant part of the dissatisfaction of the entire nation. Americans have disapproved the full tariffs with a margin of 49 to 35, with the majority viewing it as bad for American workers, inflation and the economy as a whole. Democrats lowered tariffs by 83 points and independents by 26 points. Republicans approve tariffs in a 59-point spread. That’s 20 points below the president’s 79% net approval.
The majority of Americans view Canada, Mexico, the EU and Japan as economic opportunities for the United States, not as economic threats. In fact, it all appears more favorably than when CNBC asked questions during Trump’s first term. The data suggests that the public, including the majority of Republicans, will not accept the resentment the president has expressed towards those trading partners. However, in China, the public views it as a threat from a margin of 44% to 35%, which is significantly worse than when CNBC last questioned in 2019.
The president’s worst figures come from the treatment of inflation, which the public disapproves by a margin of 37-60%, including strong net negatives from Democrats and independences. However, 58% have the lowest net positive approval from Republicans for any of the issues asked about the president. 57% of the public think we’ll soon be in a recession, or we’ll be in a recession right now, starting from just 40% in March 2024. This figure includes 12% of people who believe that the recession is already on the rise.
The president also disapproves the processing of his federal spending by 45% to 51% and foreign policy at a margin of 42% to 53%.
Trump’s highest figure comes from immigrants who have approved tropical border handling at margins of 53% to 41% and deportation of illegal immigrants by 52% to 45%. The president has received a small majority of support from independents and 22% of the Democratic Party on the tropical border. It’s still modest, but that’s the best performance issue for Trump among Democrats.
Meanwhile, Americans are more negative on the stock market than they’ve been within two years. About 53% say it’s a bad time to invest, while only 38% say it’s a good time. The figures represent a sudden shift from the optimism of the stock market that greeted the president’s election. In fact, the December survey represents the sharpest swing towards market optimism in the 17-year history of the survey, while the April survey is the sharpest turn to pessimism.
The president’s issue regarding his recognition assessment does not seem to have been translated into a major potential benefit for Democrats at this point. Asked about Congressional preferences, 48% and 46% of public Democrats supported Republican control, with little change from the March 2022 survey.
