This week’s Economist/YouGov Poll covers Donald Trump's job approval, the economy, the stock market, tariffs, taxes, and the Republican budget proposal.
Views of Donald Trump
- 42% of U.S. adult citizens approve of Donald Trump's job as president and 52% disapprove
- This net approval of -10 is down slightly from last week, when 43% approved and 51% disapproved, for a net approval of -8
- Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing as president by an 85% to 12% margin, a net approval of +72
- While high, this represents a big drop from last week's poll, when Republicans approved of Trump by a margin of 90% to 8%
- Trump's current net approval among Republicans also has dropped significantly from earlier in his second term, when it was +85 or higher
- It's too early to say whether this drop represents sustained erosion in Trump's support among Republicans or expected week-to-week survey fluctuation
The economy
- Americans' views of the U.S. economy didn't get any more negative this week, after a steady increase in negativity in recent weeks
- 52% of Americans say the U.S. economy is getting worse, 1 percentage point less than the 53% who said so last week
- Last week's poll saw the share of Americans saying the economy was getting worse jump by 6 points from 47%
- The share of Americans saying the economy is getting worse remains much higher than it was a few months ago (37% at the start of Donald Trump's second term)
- Views of how Trump is handling jobs and the economy also rebounded slightly from a week earlier, but remain far below both recent weeks and how Americans rated Trump's handling of the economy in his first term
- Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of foreign trade by a margin of 17 points (54% strongly or somewhat disapprove and 38% approve)
- 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" (38%)
- 76% of Americans think that Trump's recent tariffs will increase the price of goods they buy; 44% expect prices will increase a lot and 31% expect they will a little
- Only 7% expect tariffs will decrease prices
- Expected price changes due to tariffs are affecting some Americans' purchasing behaviors: 22% say that as a result, they plan to make a purchase now, and 28% say they will delay making a purchase
- 65% of Americans say they care about what happens in the stock market either a great deal or somewhat, and 42% say they personally or jointly have money invested in the stock market
- More Americans describe the current state of the stock market as poor (34%) than as excellent or good (21%); 28% describe it as fair
- Two-thirds (67%) of Americans believe that Trump is very or somewhat responsible for the state of the stock market. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to think he is very responsible (64% vs. 20%)
- In 2022, a question with slightly different wording found the reverse: Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (9%) thought Joe Biden had a lot or some responsibility for trends in the stock market
The Republican budget
- The budget proposed by Republicans and Trump is strongly or somewhat opposed by more Americans than support it (42% vs. 35%); about one-quarter (23%) are unsure
- At the start of Trump's first term in 2017, his budget proposal was opposed by a slightly larger margin of 44% to 27%
- About two-thirds (65%) of Americans think that the wealthy pay too little in taxes, and 47% expect that the wealthy will pay less under the new tax plan
- Majorities say that the middle class (59%) and the poor (53%) pay too much in taxes, and many believe that under the new tax plan, these groups will either pay more or the same amount
- 43% of Americans believe the Trump administration's proposed budget will increase their own taxes either a lot or some; 16% think it will decrease their taxes and 21% think their taxes will stay about the same
- Compared to the budget proposed by the Trump administration in 2017, Americans — and especially Democrats — are more likely to believe the present budget will increase their taxes
- 40% of Americans think the Trump administration's proposed budget will hurt them and their immediate family either a lot or a little; 14% think it will help and 25% think it won't have much of an impact
- These results are similar to Americans' expectations for the effects of Trump's budget in 2017 at the start of his first term
- 34% of Americans think Trump's proposed budget will result in fewer benefits for them and their family; 6% think they will receive more benefits and 34% think they will receive the same amount
- These responses are similar to how Americans assessed the implications of Trump's 2017 budget proposal on their benefits
- About half (51%) of Americans believe that over their lifetime, they will pay more in taxes than they will receive in benefits; 20% say they will take and receive about the same amount, and 10% say they will pay less in taxes than they will receive in benefits
- 71% of Americans — including 70% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans — say they are very or somewhat concerned about the size of the federal budget deficit
- To reduce the budget deficit, 74% of Americans support reducing government spending, while far fewer — 22% — are in favor of raising taxes
— 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 13 - 15, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,512 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 3.5%.
Image: Getty (Joe Raedle / Staff)
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