This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers Trump's declining job approval, his tariffs, their economic impact, the possibility of a third term, and assessments of inflation and the economy.
Trump's popularity drops
- 51% of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump's job performance and 43% approve, a net approval of -8. That's down 5 points from last week, when 46% of Americans approved of Trump and 49% disapproved for a net approval of -3
- Trump's net job approval is down 14 points since the first Economist / YouGov Poll after he took office this year, when 49% of Americans approved of him and 43% disapproved
- Trump began his second term as a more popular president than he ever was during his first term. But Trump's -8 net approval this week matches his net approval from the same stage of his first term
- Americans view Trump much less favorably personally than they did at the start of his term. 54% of Americans have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Trump, while 43% view him favorably
- This net favorability of -11 represents a sudden — though modestly sized — break from the first two months of Trump's term, when about as many Americans viewed him favorably as unfavorably each week
- Only two weeks ago, 48% of Americans viewed Trump favorably and 49% viewed him unfavorably
- Since that time, the share of Trump's 2024 voters who view him favorably has fallen from 91% to 85%, while the share who view him unfavorably has risen from 9% to 14%
- There has been a particularly sharp rise in discontent with how Trump is handling the economy and prices
- 51% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, while 41% approve. That -10 net approval on this issue is down from -4 two weeks ago; Trump's net approval on the economy among his 2024 voters has fallen from +75 to +66
- 55% disapprove of Trump's handling of prices and inflation — including 19% of Trump's 2024 voters — while 36% of Americans approve. His -19 net approval on inflation and prices is down from -8 two weeks ago
- Net approval of Trump's handling of foreign trade is -18
- In contrast, Americans' views of how Trump is handling immigration have barely changed, from 51% approval and 44% disapproval two weeks ago to 50% - 44% approval now; views of how Trump is handling crime have fallen slightly from 47% - 38% approval two weeks ago to 45% - 42% approval now
Reactions to Trump's tariffs
- Most Americans have heard something about Trump's new tariffs — which include a minimum 10% tariff on all countries and higher rates for most countries; on Wednesday, a day after the survey ended, Trump announced a 90-day pause on some of the tariffs
- Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they've heard a lot about the tariffs (73% vs. 53%)
- Americans disapprove of Trump's new tariffs by a margin of -16: 52% strongly or somewhat disapprove and 36% approve
- Net approval of the tariffs is -79 among Democrats, -29 among Independents, and +57 Republicans
- The tariffs are more popular among self-identified MAGA Republicans than among non-MAGA Republicans (+74 vs. +39 net approval)
- Men are more likely than women to support the tariffs, and older Americans are more likely to than younger adults — but net approval is negative among men and women and within all four major age groups
- More Americans have negative than positive views of two cabinet members involved in Trump's trade policy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has a net favorability of -13 and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's net favorability is -6. Neither man is very well-known; only around one in three Americans have an opinion of each
- More Americans say their view on recent tariffs is closer to thinking that they "are harmful to the economy and consumers, with no real long-term benefits" (48%) than that "they may cause short-term economic pain, but they lead to long-term economic growth" (37%)
- Americans are more likely to expect that tariffs will hurt rather than help their own financial wellbeing (55% vs. 16%), the U.S. economy (53% vs. 31%), the economies of other countries (55% vs. 9%), and U.S. global standing (52% vs. 19%)
- Slightly more expect Trump's tariffs to help (39%) than hurt (35%) U.S. manufacturing
- 80% of Americans think that Trump's recent tariffs will increase the price of goods they buy; 47% expect prices will increase a lot and 33% expect they will a little
- Only 4% expect tariffs will decrease prices
- Are the tariffs affecting Americans' purchasing behaviors?
- 21% say they plan to make a purchase now because they expect tariffs to change prices
- 31% say they will delay making a purchase because they expect tariffs to change prices
- 56% of Americans think it's very likely that other countries will retaliate against U.S. tariffs by raising their own tariffs on U.S. goods
- 40% think it's very likely that Trump's tariffs will result in a trade war
- If there is a trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world, slightly more Americans think the U.S. would lose than win (37% vs. 33%), and more Americans expect the U.S. would be more hurt by a trade war than the rest of the world than expect the reverse (42% vs. 30%)
- 30% of Americans believe the U.S. trade deficit is a very serious problem, including similar shares of Democrats (31%) and Republicans (32%)
- But the trade deficit ranks relatively low compared to other problems that Americans are concerned about. More say corruption (62%), inflation (62%), illegal immigration (48%), the budget deficit (44%), income inequality (44%), crime (43%), and racism (40%) are very serious problems than say the same about the trade deficit
- Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say that income inequality and racism are very serious problems, while Republicans are more likely to be focused on illegal immigration and crime
Trump's efforts and future
- Trump has recently raised the possibility of staying in office beyond his current term — a prospect that most Americans don't want
- 52% of Americans expect that Trump will attempt to serve a third term. Far fewer — 17% — think he should attempt to do so, and only 8% think that the Constitution allows it
- Far more Democrats than Republicans think Trump will seek to serve a third term (70% vs. 34%). More Republicans than Democrats think he should attempt to serve a third term (36% vs. 3%), though majorities of Democrats and Republicans say the Constitution does not allow it. 2% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans say the Constitution does allow it
- Has Trump been too forceful in pushing his agenda, or not forceful enough? In all eight areas asked about in the survey, Americans are more likely to say the Trump administration's efforts have gone too far than not gone far enough: 56% say its tariffs have gone too far and only 8% not far enough; 51% say its attempts to acquire or annex new U.S. territory have gone too far and 6% not far enough; and 48% say efforts to reduce scientific research funding have gone too far, 9% not far enough
- Large majorities of Democrats think the Trump administration has gone too far in each of the areas included on the survey. Republicans, on the other hand, are more divided. Between 41% and 56% of Republicans say Trump's actions have been about right in each of the areas. And in most areas, Republicans are more likely to say the administration hasn't gone far enough than to say it has gone too far. Only regarding imposing tariffs and acquiring new territory do more Republicans say the administration has gone too far than say it has not gone far enough; on each issue, the margin is modest
Economic views
- With stock indices plunging and widespread talk of trade wars, far more Americans this week expressed negative opinions about the U.S. economy than have in recent months
- 53% of Americans say the economy is getting worse, up from 47% two weeks ago and 37% right after Trump took office in January
- 51% of Americans expect inflation to be higher six months from now, up from 34% in early January and as high a share of Americans as have ever expected higher inflation since 2022
- 60% of Americans say they're hearing mostly negative news about the U.S. economy, up from 43% when the question was last asked, in early February
- Compared to early February, the share of Trump's 2024 voters who say they're hearing mostly negative news about the economy has risen from 33% to 43%, while the share of Kamala Harris voters who say they've heard mostly negative economic news has risen from 53% to 82%
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the April 5 - 8, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,741 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 (Chip Somodevilla / Staff)
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