Dem
47
GOP
53
For most voters, the economy and affordability are the big issues and Donald Trump's grade on this keeps dropping. A new AP/NORC poll has Trump's approval rating on the economy at a dismal 31%, his lowest ever. Among all voters, 68% say the economy is in poor shape. Even 44% of Republicans agree with this. Half of Americans say it is harder than usual to afford holiday gifts and half are cutting back on nonessential purchases. A vast majority say groceries and electricity are getting more expensive. Even among Republicans, 40% are hunting for lower prices more than they normally would.
Interestingly enough, the poll results are very similar to an AP/NORC poll in Dec. 2022, when Joe Biden was president. The key word was "inflation" then rather than "affordability," but in both cases what people meant was they were struggling economically.
Donald Trump's response is a planned road trip in which he will barnstorm the country to tell voters that their observation that prices are up is wrong and the economy is great. Telling them to get their daughters two pencils and three dolls (instead of 37) is not likely to put many people (except Democratic strategists) at ease. Yesterday, on Face the Nation, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent responded to the polls by blaming the media for giving everyone the idea that people are having a rough time. As proof, he noted that gas prices are falling. Michael Strain, an economist at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute said that Joe Biden tried the same approach and it didn't work for him and won't work for Trump. Adding to Trump's tone-deafness is a cabinet full of billionaires and his focus on building a $300 million ballroom paid for by more billionaires at a time when regular people are suffering.
Another approach the administration is taking is blaming the economy on Biden. Bessent said: "We've got this embedded inflation from the Biden years." Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said: "That Biden-economy hangover is real." But several polls have shown that the voters blame Trump's tariffs, not Biden.
Will things get better next year? People don't think so. About 40% think things will be worse, 30% expect more of the same, and only 20% think things will be better. Having people expecting the future to be no better than the present is never a good sign for an incumbent party in an election year, especially a midterm year. (V)