Americans’ anger about the economy hits Trump and Republicans’ midterm prospects

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN

(CNN) — It’s President Donald Trump’s economy – and most Americans aren’t happy with it.

A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds that 77% – including a majority of Republicans – say that Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their own community. Roughly two-thirds of Americans say that Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the country. And Trump’s approval rating stands at 30% on the economy, a career low.

Economic unhappiness has become a fixture of the political landscape. Views of the US economy have remained underwater since the start of the pandemic, with the only exception a brief spike of optimism at the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency.

That dissatisfaction gave the Republican Party a yearslong advantage on trust to handle economic issues. Now, it’s left the GOP with the brunt of the blame for Trump’s second-term policies.

In the latest poll, Democrats are more trusted than the GOP to handle central economic issues, including the cost of living, helping the middle class and inflation. Significant shares of the public, however, say they trust neither party on many of those same issues.

One-third of the public approves of the way Trump is handling helping the middle class. Just 26% of Americans approve of his performance on inflation and 21% on gas prices, with significant pockets of dissatisfaction even among those who overall support his presidency.

A majority of Republicans disapprove of his handling of gas prices. The share saying Trump’s policies have made cost of living rise is up 17 points overall since last year, and up 25 points among Republicans.

Distrust of both parties

The public is close to evenly split on which political party would do a better job of dealing with the economy. That contrasts with the GOP’s typical advantage on the issue during the Biden era: In one 2022 CNN survey, Americans said by a 15-point margin that the Republican Party’s economic views were closer to their own.

When it comes to cost of living, Democrats hold a 9-point advantage. That’s due in part to Republicans’ doubts about their own party: Democratic-aligned adults are 15 points likelier than GOP-aligned adults to say their party could better address the cost of living.

Democrats also lead by double digits on trust to handle income inequality, healthcare costs and helping the middle class, with a smaller edge on handling inflation. Republicans are ahead in trust to handle the stock market, with relatively close divides on which party would do a better job of dealing with taxes.

The divide on economic issues arguably leaves Democrats well-positioned on a set of issues with more populist appeal. The vast majority of Americans, 85%, describe themselves as working-class, middle-class or upper-middle class, and three-quarters say that the country’s economic system is unfairly geared toward powerful interests. By contrast, just over half of the public reports holding any investments in the stock market, including retirement funds.

But one possible warning sign for Democrats emerges here. On each of the issues tested, more than 30% of Americans – including half or more of political independents – say they trust neither party. And by an 8-point margin, the public says that there’s a bigger problem with the government giving help to too many people who “don’t deserve it” rather than failing to help enough people, suggesting some limits to the appetite for a more robust social safety net.

The poll finds registered voters closely split in their partisan preference ahead of the midterms, with 45% saying they’d support a Democratic candidate for Congress, 42% a Republican candidate, and 14% neither. Polling on congressional preference this year, including previous CNN surveys, has largely given Democrats the advantage.

Voters who aren’t sold on either party’s economic message tend to prefer the Democrats on the generic ballot, the CNN survey finds.

How important are economic issues to the midterms?

There’s no doubt that economic issues are at the top of many Americans’ minds heading into this year’s election season. But caring about an issue isn’t the same thing as deciding to vote on that basis.

Asked to pick which of six issues is the most important facing the country, 55% choose the economy and the cost of living, more than doubling the share who pick any single other issue.

In a separate question, however, 57% say that there are other political issues that matter at least as much as the economy when it comes to this year’s midterms.

Notably, the bloc of Americans that cares most about the economy appears to include some of the most politically persuadable. Sixty percent of “true” independents – those who don’t lean toward either party – say the economy matters more than any other midterm issues, as do 52% of those who report paying relatively little attention to political news. Partisans, and those who are more attuned to politics, are more likely to place weight on other issues.

Overall, Americans are about evenly split on whether or not they think that the midterm outcome is likely to have a major effect on their own finances – a shift from 2024, when amid Trump’s campaign promises to “end inflation,” most believed the presidential election could have a big impact.

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The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from April 30-May 4 among a random national sample of 1,499 US adults drawn from a probability-based panel. Surveys were either conducted online or by telephone with a live interviewer. Results shown in this chart have a margin of sampling error of up to ±2.8 percentage points.