Findings from the latest Economist/YouGov poll about:
- Stagnant and subpar approval of Donald Trump
- Fears for recession and for personal finances
- Grades and ideological scores for some of the nation's top universities
Trump job approval
- 42% of Americans approve of Donald Trump's job as president, while 52% disapprove, for a net approval of -10
- This is the second weekly Economist / YouGov Poll in a row in which Trump's net approval did not fall, after four straight weeks of declines, from +1 on March 22 - 25 to -13 on April 19 - 22
- Net approval of Trump among Americans who identify with or lean toward the Republican or the Democratic parties has been relatively flat the past few weeks, while Trump's net approval has risen among the 20% of Americans who lean toward neither party
The economy and who's responsible for it
- After an upbeat streak that started last summer, Americans have, in recent weeks, been about as likely to anticipate that their household's financial situation will be worse off in a year as better off (29% vs. 32% in this week's poll). That ends a period of about eight months in which significantly more Americans expected their finances to improve than thought they would worsen
- 40% of Americans say the U.S. is currently in a recession, while 35% say it isn't and 25% aren't sure
- The 40% who say the country is in a recession is up from 30% saying this in early February, but down from more than 50% who said this in late 2022 and early 2023
- 56% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans say the country is in a recession. Just before Trump's inauguration in January, 27% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans said so
- 57% of Americans say they've heard mostly negative news stories about the economy while only 6% say mostly positive; 52% think the economy is getting worse and only 22% say better
- Inflation is a major reason why Americans are negative about the economy and its outlook. It continues to top the list of issues Americans say are most important to them; and 81% consider it very important, more than for any of the other issues asked about
- 47% expect that in six months there will be a higher rate of inflation; about half as many (22%) think the inflation rate will be lower
- There is a similar pattern with gas prices: 44% expect higher gas prices in six months while 23% expect gas prices to be lower
- Nearly all Americans — 96% — say they've felt the impact of high inflation in their own life: 48% say they have a lot and 47% say they have a little
- 75% of Americans think that Trump's tariffs will increase the prices they pay, and most who do expect they will increase prices a lot rather than a little
- Majorities of Democrats and Republicans think Trump's tariffs will lead to price increases. Among Republicans, the share who think tariffs will raise prices "a lot" has increased 8 percentage points in the past two weeks, to 22% from 14%
- More believe that tariffs "are harmful to the economy and consumers, with no real long-term benefits" than think "they may cause short-term economic pain, but they lead to long-term economic growth" (46% vs. 39%)
- A majority of Americans (61%) would like for businesses to display how much of a purchase price goes toward paying tariffs; 80% of Democrats, 61% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans would prefer for businesses to do this
- Most Americans (54%) say the stock market has declined since January; 9% think the stock market has gone up and 12% say it has stayed the same
- 70% of Americans assign at least some responsibility for the stock market to Trump, including 84% of Democrats and 70% of Republicans
- The share of Republicans who say Trump has some responsibility has risen 10 points since three weeks ago
- The survey also asked Americans whether they agree or disagree with statements related to the economy that Trump recently posted to his Truth Social account. The questions did not indicate that these statements were Trump's
- By a margin of 53% to 23%, Americans strongly or somewhat disagree with Trump's assertion that "This is Biden's stock market, not Trump's"
- By similar margins, Americans disagree with claims in recent Trump posts that "The businessmen who criticize tariffs are bad at business" (52% disagree vs. 24% agree) and that "The United States is taking in record numbers in tariffs, with the cost of almost all products going down, including gasoline, groceries, and just about everything else" (52% vs. 28%)
- More agree than disagree with statements in Trump posts that "The golden rule of negotiating and success is 'He who has the gold makes the rules'" (47% agree vs. 30% disagree) and that "This is a great time to move your company into the United States of America" (45% vs. 34%)
- A separate question asked directly who is more responsible for the state of the economy. Far more Americans say Trump than Biden (51% vs. 28%). The vast majority of Democrats assign more responsibility to Trump (79% vs. 8%). Republicans are less likely to say it's more Trump's economy than Biden's (32% vs. 52%)
- Democrats' and Republicans' assessments of the economy are tied to who they think is responsible for it
- Democrats who say the economy is excellent or good are less likely than those who say it is fair or poor to pin primary responsibility on Trump (45% vs. 86%)
- The reverse is true for Republicans: Those who think the economy is excellent or good are more likely to say Trump is responsible compared to those who say it is fair or poor (40% vs. 25%)
Universities: funding, free speech, and anti-semitism
- Americans are divided about government funding of U.S. universities: 33% think funding should be increased, 30% think it should be kept the same, and 25% think it should be decreased
- Views on university funding — along with other opinions on universities measured in this survey — are politically polarized. Far more Democrats than Republicans support increasing university funding, and far more Republicans than Democrats favor decreasing it
- The survey asked respondents what they thought of their state's flagship public university, by name. Americans — including Democrats and Republicans — generally have favorable views of their states' flagship public universities
- Democrats also have positive net favorability of certain elite private universities in the survey, including Harvard (+77), Stanford (+66), and Columbia (+46). Republicans' views of these universities are far less positive: -2, +22, and 0, respectively
- Net favorabilities of specific public universities are also more positive among Democrats than Republicans, though the extent of these differences vary. Partisan gaps in net favorability for the University of Texas at Austin (+44 Democrats vs. +32 Republicans) and Ohio State University (+47 vs. +34) are much smaller than for the University of California, Berkeley (+64 vs. -3)
- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is the only university asked about that has a lower net favorability among Democrats than Republicans (+49 vs. +73), though it is viewed more positively than negatively by both groups
- UC Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford are all far more likely to be viewed as very or somewhat liberal universities than as conservative. About equal shares of Americans say Ohio State is liberal and conservative, and the same is true for UT Austin. Far more say West Point is conservative than liberal
- Half (50%) of Americans believe everyone in the U.S., regardless of their race, has an equal opportunity for education; 41% think they do not
- Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on this question since we last asked it in July 2023. The share of Democrats who say there is equal opportunity of education rose 11 points, to 41% from 30%; the share of Republicans saying this fell 7 points, to 69% from 76%
- Americans are divided about how much universities have done to ensure student bodies are diverse: 25% think they've done too much, 24% think they've done the right amount, and 26% think they've done too little
- 24% of Americans think that in order to further student body diversity, it's acceptable for universities to ever consider an applicant's race, along with other factors; 63% say universities should not do this
- The share of Americans saying universities should never consider applicants' race to further student body diversity has risen 9 points since this question was last posed by us in October 2022
- Americans are more likely to think that most American universities do rather than don't foster the open exchange of ideas (40% vs. 31%); the share who say they do has increased 12 points since 2021
- 15% of Americans say they've felt penalized for expressing their political views while on the campus of an educational institution they attended; 12% say the same about their religious views
- Most Americans think that anti-semitism is a very or somewhat serious problem in the U.S. (58%), and somewhat fewer (48%) think the same is true on American college campuses
- Half (49%) of Americans think that Trump is more focused on using the problem of anti-semitism for political gain than he is on solving the problem; 30% say he is more focused on solving it than using it for political gain
- By a slim margin, more Americans strongly or somewhat support than oppose (41% vs. 36%) the government removing Harvard's tax-exempt status — which Trump has threatened to do
— 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 May 2 - 5, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,850 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
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