Donald Trump did “the worst thing a president could do,” given the grim economic forecast, according to a new breakdown from MS NOW, and voters are increasingly signaling how much they are done giving the benefit of the doubt.
On Thursday, MS NOW’s James Downie published an analysis of the latest poll from Gallup, which found that a historically high 55 percent of Americans feel “their financial situation is getting worse,” a record number for the esteemed firm. Downie drew a comparison to Trump’s approval ratings, which have cratered to near-all-time lows as economic dissatisfaction has soared, with the two trends being inescapably linked.
“Trump has only himself to blame,” he wrote. “For decades, when large numbers of Americans expressed negative feelings about the economy, they were generally reacting to high unemployment, high year-over-year inflation or both.”
Trump was reelected in 2024 largely by voters who hoped that he would reverse the worsening economy under Joe Biden. Since then, however, sentiments have only worsened as employment has stagnated and inflation has never fully normalized. Evidence cited by Downie suggested that it is difficult for consumers to shake the sense that prices are out of control, even once inflation is nominally tamed. Put another: consumers are still reeling from the sting of pandemic-era price shocks.
While Trump returned to the White House with a public mandate to tackle affordability, he has instead done exactly what he should not have done in this precarious economic atmosphere, Downie explained, by actively taking step that directly cause prices to soar.
“The worst thing a president could do in this situation is introduce more price shocks, which brings us back to Trump,” he wrote. “In the 2024 campaign, he promised he would make prices go down ‘on Day One.’ That was always a ridiculous pledge — the president can’t pull a lever and instantly lower prices. But many voters believed him: Republican voters’ inflation expectations plunged to zero after the 2024 election.”
He concluded: “Voters might have forgiven Trump at least somewhat for the failed ‘Day One’ pledge had he otherwise done nothing to increase inflation. But he has introduced further price shocks: first, imposing blanket tariffs, then instigating a war with Iran. Gas is averaging $4.23 a gallon across the U.S., up more than 40% since the conflict started. There’s no end in sight for the war: ‘maximalist demands on both sides,’ my MS NOW colleagues reported, ‘show no signs of softening.’ No one really knows what weeks or months more of a blockaded Strait of Hormuz will mean for fuel prices — or the global economy. But don’t expect Americans’ feelings about the economy to brighten anytime soon.”