This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers bearish economic views, Republican unity and rare dissents with Trump, the war in Ukraine, and education.
The economy
- Among the negative economic indicators this week: 48% of Americans say they think the economy is getting worse, up from 37% at the start of Donald Trump's second term; only 19% say they think it is getting better
- 47% of Americans expect higher inflation in six months, more than twice the share six months ago
- 48% say the inflation rate has gone up since January, while only 6% say it has gone down
- 72% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans say inflation has risen since January; 2% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans say it has gone down
- Slightly more Americans expect their household finances to be better in a year than expect their finances to be worse (33% vs. 28%) but it's the narrowest gap in six months
- 37% of Americans say we are in a recession, up from 30% a month earlier
- The change is driven by Democrats: 49% say we are in a recession, up from 30%; the share of Republicans who say we are in a recession is 25%, down from 31%
- Trump is taking some blame for perceived economic weakness: His job approval numbers for handling of the economy and inflation are down from the start of his term
- 43% strongly or somewhat approve of Trump's handling of jobs and the economy and 47% disapprove; 49% approved and 37% disapproved at the end of January
- 38% approve of Trump's handling of inflation/prices and 52% disapprove; 45% approved and 39% disapproved at the end of January
- More say Trump is more responsible for the current state of the economy than say his predecessor Joe Biden is (44% vs. 34%), less than two months after Trump replaced Biden
- Democrats overwhelmingly say Trump is more responsible (72% vs. 8%) while only 21% of Republicans say Trump is more responsible and 65% say Biden is
- Trump's tariffs are unpopular: Americans are more likely to oppose than support them, and more likely to expect tariffs to raise prices and hurt the average American
- 60% of Americans say raising tariffs would hurt the average American and only 13% say it would help; Democrats overwhelmingly say tariff increases would help, not hurt (90% vs. 4%) while Republicans are divided (32% vs. 28%)
- By 76% to 9% Americans oppose the U.S. using military force to take control of Canada; only 6% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans would support it
Republican unity
- While Trump isn't unusually popular for a president early in his term in office, his popularity among Republicans is very high — which also means his popularity among Democrats is vanishingly small
- Trump's job approval among Republicans his running ahead of his level in his first term, and roughly in line with Biden's
- Trump's overall job approval, though, sits right in between Biden's at this stage, and Trump's lower approval level at this stage of his first term
- Other examples from the latest poll of overwhelming Republican support for Trump:
- 89% have a very or somewhat favorable view of Trump; 83% do of his vice president, JD Vance
- At least 80% approve of each of the following: Trump's handling of jobs and the economy, taxes and government spending, and crime
- At least 80% say each of the following about Trump: that he cares about the needs and problems of people like them (81%) and that he is a very or somewhat strong leader (96%)
- 73% have a very or somewhat positive reaction to Trump's address to a joint session of Congress last week and only 5% were negative; 43% say it was one of the best of recent such presidential speeches
- However, on two issues, more Republicans diverge from Trump — his proposals or suggestions — than align with him:
- Using military force to take control of Greenland (20% of Republicans support vs. 56% oppose)
- Using taxpayer money to invest in cryptocurrency (22% vs. 48%)
Ukraine
- More Americans want to reduce or halt military aid to Ukraine than want to increase it (35% vs. 24%)
- 21% of Americans, including 6% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans, want to stop military aid to Ukraine entirely
- In Trump's recent meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, 51% of Americans think Trump was disrespectful toward Zelensky while 32% think Zelensky was disrespectful toward Trump; Democrats overwhelmingly say Trump was disrespectful and Zelensky was not while the reverse is true, with less overwhelming margins, among Republicans
- Zelensky continues to be viewed favorably by a large majority of Democrats and unfavorably by a large share of Republicans
Education
- Americans are more positive about public schools in their community than about public schools in the U.S.: 42% rate their local schools as excellent or good, compared to 31% who say the same about national schools
- Twice as many Americans oppose as support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education (57% vs. 29%); by an even greater margin, more think eliminating the department would hurt public schools in their community a little or a lot than would help them (54% vs. 18%)
- For each of seven kinds of federal education spending, far more Americans support increases than decreases or total elimination; for six of the seven, at least 52% of Americans support increases (the exception is college financial support)
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the March 9 - 11, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,699 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty (Andrew Harnik / Staff)
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