A poll shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy in its current state.
Surveying 1,462 likely voters between January 27 and 30, the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that only 36 percent of those surveyed approved of the president’s handling of the economy, versus 59 percent who disapproved. In the month of December, the president’s disapproval for handling the economy stood at 57 percent.
“With about nine months until the midterms, the president is facing growing concerns on the economy,” noted the Hill. “More than half of respondents to the poll said the White House should primarily focus on lowering prices, including nearly 6 in 10 independents.”
Inflation under Trump did, however, decline from three percent in January 2025 to 2.7 percent in December 2025, with the price of being “up 3.1 percent year-over-year in December, after being up 2.5 percent in January 2025.”
As for the president’s tariffs, a majority of Americans polled believed they harmed the economy.
“56 percent of Americans say placing tariffs or fees on imported products from other countries hurts the U.S. economy,” per Marist. “31 percent say tariffs help the economy. 12 percent report tariffs do not make much difference either way. Democrats (87 percent) and independents (63 percent) are more likely than Republicans (20 percent) to say tariffs hurt the economy. About two in three Republicans (66 percent) say tariffs benefit the national economy.”
The American unemployment rate has been under five percent since September 2021, but it rose from four percent in January 2025 to 4.4 percent in December.
Speaking with NBC News over the weekend, the president said he was “proud” of the current U.S. economy.
“I’m very proud of it,” the president said. “I inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country. It was through the roof.”
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP growth hit 4.4 percent in the third quarter of last year. Trump has also predicted that 2026 will be “even better” than the first year of his second term.
“There are factories and plants and thousands of businesses being built all over the country,” he said. “I just spoke to President Xi [Jinping] of China. Nobody has ever seen anything like what’s happening right now in America.”
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