CNN Poll: Trump’s approval rating on the economy hits a new low

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s approval rating for handling the economy has fallen to a new career low of 31%, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, reflecting growing pessimism among Americans over the issue they consistently describe as the most important.

Roughly two-thirds of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the US, up 10 points since January. Just 27% say they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation, down from 44% one year ago.

Trump’s overall approval rating has held relatively steady at 35%, one point off his all-time low in CNN polling. There’s been notable erosion, however, in his standing with his own partisans. The share of Republicans who strongly approve of his job performance has dropped to 43%, from 52% in January.

Trump’s economic approval rating is down 8 points overall since January and a larger 14 points among Republicans. Among Republicans younger than 45, the decline is an even more stark 23 points. And almost 3 in 10 Republicans (28%) say his policies have worsened economic conditions in the US, up from 13% who felt that way in January.

Since the US emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, poll after poll has found the economy topping lists of the most important issues, with the public broadly dissatisfied with Washington’s handling of it. But CNN’s new poll shows that negativity has reached a new level: The 65% who say Trump’s policies have made the economy worse is the highest of his presidency, higher than the share who said the same about Democrat Joe Biden’s policies at any point during his time in office.

Around three-quarters of Americans say the US economy is in poor shape, up 8 points since January, with the share calling it “very poor” up 12 points. Roughly 6 in 10 say they expect the economy to be in poor condition a year from now, the highest share to say so during either of Trump’s presidencies.

Pain at the pump takes a toll on Trump

The poll suggests the financial pressure of gas prices, now averaging more than $4 per gallon nationwide in the wake of the US attack on Iran, has added to Americans’ financial frustrations.

While the share who say they’ve made changes to how they buy groceries or have cut back spending on extras is down compared with one year ago, more than 6 in 10 Americans still say they are trimming their budgets in those ways, figures that have held above 60% in CNN polling since 2022. And a growing minority (45%, up 5 points in the past year) say they’ve cut back significantly on how much they drive.

Overall, 63% say higher costs at the pump have caused at least some financial hardship in their household, including 15% who say it’s severe. Most (57%) see the increased prices as more of a temporary fluctuation than a permanent shift, though market signals suggest that even if the war were to end soon, lasting effects on oil prices are likely. Seven in 10 say the president doesn’t have a clear plan for handling the gas price situation, and a scant 24% approve of his handling of it.

Asked to name the most important issue facing the country, one Republican respondent to the poll wrote, “Prices! Everything is so expensive. Makes it very difficult to do anything other than work and go home. Trips to the grocery store are ridiculous! Between gas and grocery prices, we are poor!”

In the new poll, 40% name an economic issue as most important, more than double the share naming any other type of issue in this open-ended measure.

And 67% say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s top problems, a finding that’s held fairly steady since last summer.

There is little sign that Democrats are capitalizing on what Americans see as a Trump shortcoming, though, with an even broader 74% of the public saying Democrats in Congress have the wrong priorities. Democrats are more likely to say their own party has the wrong focus than Republicans are to say the same about Trump, but among independents, both are seen as equally off-topic. About three-quarters of independents say that each of them have the wrong priorities.

The poll also holds some signs of worsening views of Trump’s approach to foreign policy. The 63% who say his decisions on that front have hurt the United States’ standing in the world is up 6 points since January, and just 36% approve of his handling of foreign affairs.

But there is stability in views of how things are going in the US. Though the public is broadly negative – 67% say things are going badly – it’s no worse than last fall. And Trump’s approval ratings for other major issues including immigration and health care policy, while negative, have held roughly even since the start of the year.

Trump and Republicans are taking more blame for DHS shutdown

Trump and the Republicans in Congress shoulder more of the blame than their opponents across the aisle for the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, with 39% saying the GOP deserves the bulk of the blame, 25% that Democrats in Congress do, and 28% that both groups share equal blame.

One in 5 Americans consider the partial shutdown a crisis, fewer than the share who felt that way during the full government shutdown last fall. While the partial shutdown’s most visible impact has been long lines at airport security checkpoints as TSA agents went without pay until a recent executive action delivered paychecks this week, the poll finds little difference in assessments of the severity of the shutdown based on whether people have taken a flight recently. And few think Trump’s order to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports has helped the situation: 40% said it made things worse, while just 21% felt it improved things.

A majority of Americans, including 84% of Republicans, say Trump’s handling of the presidency has been in line with their expectations, but those views are concentrated among those with a positive take on his performance. Among all adults who approve of his job performance, 91% say he’s handling it as expected. Those who disapprove, though, are more evenly split, with 52% saying it’s what they expected and 48% that it is not.

Many say Trump has overstepped on several key elements of his second term in office. About 6 in 10 say he’s gone too far in trying to expand the US’ power over other countries, in using the power of the presidency and the executive branch and on cutting federal government programs. A slightly smaller majority (55%) says he’s gone too far on deporting immigrants living in the US illegally.

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CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy and Edward Wu contributed to this report.