President Donald Trump received mixed reviews from the public regarding his handling of economic matters, according to a new poll.
A CBS survey polled voters last week after Trump imposed sweeping global tariffs and then negotiated “fairer” trade deals with foreign countries to carry out his “America First” agenda. As a result, the stock market had a volatile week, losing $6 trillion at one point. It has since recuperated partially, though market anxieties remain.
The survey highlighted conflicting feedback from the public. When asked about the impact of Trump’s tariffs, some voters said they raised prices in the short term but could pay off with a healthier economy in the future. However, 65% of voters said they would make the economy worse in the short term. That number fell to 42% when voters were asked about the long-term implications of the tariffs. Only 8% said the tariffs would make the economy better in the short term, compared to 34% who believe Trump’s trade policies would help the economy in the long term.
The pattern held true when voters were asked about the impact of tariffs, specifically on prices. Seventy-five percent of survey respondents said they expect costs to go up short term, with those who believe tariffs would increase prices in the long term dropping to 48%.
When asked when they would “be able to judge” how Trump’s trade and tariff policies affect the economy, the largest group of respondents, 27%, said within a few months, followed by 25% who said “in about a year.”
While voters are seemingly handing Trump an out on his trade policies if they pan out in the coming months, the president’s approval ratings on the economy are sinking compared to previous surveys.
Forty-four percent of voters support Trump’s handling of the economy, which is down from 51% at the beginning of March, when 42% of voters said Trump’s policies were making them financially worse off, compared to 49% now.
Trump’s overall job approval rating sank from 53% in February to 47% in CBS’s most recent survey.
However, the poll outlined conflicting data on jobs. The largest number of respondents, 47%, said the president’s policies would hurt the job market, compared to 31% who believe they would create jobs. Yet, 49% said Trump’s tariffs would add manufacturing jobs, compared to only 25% who believe his trade policies would hurt the industry.
Trump’s protectionist trade policies have faced pushback from lawmakers on both sides who are concerned that they violate free trade principles, erode competitive global markets, and raise prices for Americans.
The White House has argued that renegotiating trade deals and global tariffs is necessary to bring jobs and businesses back to the United States.
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“If we just run gigantic trade deficits and sell our soul to the rest of the world, eventually we are going to be the workers for the rest of the world,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during an interview over the weekend. “We’re going to be the thinker for the rest of the world, but they’re going to manufacture, and if someday they say, ‘Gee, we’re not sending it to you,’ we’ll be nothing. So I think the president has national security in mind, and he’s here to protect America. We need to reshore these things, and we all know it.”
The CBS News survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,410 people from April 8 to April 11. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
