Tariff chaos leads to polling setback for President Donald Trump – After an eventful week in which President Donald Trump imposed radical new tariffs, backed off of most of them, and had it all result in chaos for the markets, it appears that chaos has hurt the president’s approval ratings.
That’s not exactly a shocker, for many reasons.
Less than three months ago, Trump came into office with a higher approval rating than he had at any point during his first term in office.
But according to Newsweek, Trump has seen declines in his ratings from four different surveys released in the last few days.
0-for-4 on Polls for Donald Trump
In the latest Quinnipiac University poll, Trump’s approval rating is down to 41 percent, compared to 53 percent disapproval. Trump’s approval was up at 45 percent in February.
The news wasn’t much better in the YouGov/Economist poll, which had Trump at 43 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval. The drop there has been even harder, as Trump’s approval rating dropped five points from the week before and 14 points from when Trump came into office.
Meanwhile, the Rasmussen poll, generally seen as more favorable to Trump and Republicans than most others, had Trump at 47 percent approval and 52 percent disapproval. This represented a low for Trump since his return to office.
And the HarrisX poll saw Trump at 47 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval, representing a 7-point drop in less than a month.
In fact, in the ten polls shared by Newsweek, dating back to mid-March, not a single one shows Trump with an approval rating over 50 percent. It appears that the president’s ceiling, at the moment, is 47 percent support.
According to RealClearPolling‘s average, Trump’s disapproval rating has reached over 50 percent, compared to 47.1 percent approval. It not only marks the worst number of Trump’s second presidency but represents a drop from the 50.5 percent approval average held by the president when he returned to office in January.
A Deep Dive
The YouGov poll, in particular, illustrates why Trump has dropped in popularity in recent weeks. For one thing, some who voted for Trump are starting to sour on him.
“The share of Trump’s 2024 voters who view him favorably has fallen from 91% to 85%, while the share who view him unfavorably has risen from 9% to 14%,” YouGov said in its poll release. And this is particularly on the issues of the economy, prices and inflation.
Also, just 36 percent of Americans approve of the tariffs, while 52 percent disapprove. And 80 percent of Americans believe the tariffs will increase the price of the good that they buy.
In addition, 52 percent of respondents believe that Trump will attempt to stay in office for a third term, even though he’s not allowed to by the constitution.
Why Donald Trump Is Crashing in the Polls
It’s not hard to see why Trump’s approval ratings are down, nor was it hard to predict this would happen.
Trump returned to office on the notion that the Biden-Harris administration had screwed things up, especially when it came to cost of living, and Trump promised a return to the economy of his first term, at least the part before COVID since the economy cratering in 2020.
Of course, it was inevitable that Trump would have trouble keeping his coalition together and that he would become less popular over time for the same reasons he did in his first term: the day-to-day chaos that inevitably comes with Trump governance and Trump’s specific actions that would upset different portions of the electorate.
And that appears to have happened in the last couple of weeks with the tariffs. Whether voters agree with higher tariffs or not, it’s pretty clear they don’t like the messing around, and the market chaos that has resulted from it. Plus, when the tariffs that remain in place, on China, inevitably result in higher prices on everyday goods, that’s not likely to help Trump’s approval ratings, since they’re undeniably the result of his actions.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
