NEW YORK (AP) – Nearly a year into his second term, President Donald Trump’s economic efforts have not met the expectations of many in his own party, according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll.
poll from Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center We found a huge gap between the economic leadership Americans remembered from President Trump’s first term and what he has built thus far. amazing level of confusion At home and abroad.
Only 16% of Republicans say President Trump has contributed “a lot” to cost-of-living measures, down from 49% in April 2024, when the Associated Press-NORC poll asked Americans the same question about President Trump’s first term.
At the same time, Republicans overwhelmingly support the president’s leadership on immigration — even though some dislike his tactics.
John Candela, 64, of New Rochelle, New York, said his family’s cost of living hasn’t improved, and his pay and bills are the same as before.
“I still pay $5 for an Oreo,” he said. But he plans to be patient. “I think by the end of four years things will have changed.”
The poll revealed signs that consumers are becoming more bearish about the economy, particularly Mr. Trump’s core campaign promise to cut costs. Inflation has subsided somewhat, but prices for many goods are still higher than when the Republican president took office last January.
But overall, there are few signs that the Republican base is abandoning Trump. A majority of Republicans (8 in 10) approve of his job performance, compared to 4 in 10 adults overall.
“I don’t like this guy as a person. I don’t like his cockiness. I don’t like his harshness. I don’t like the way he types his sentences in capital letters as if he’s yelling at everyone. But what I appreciate is that he’s trying to get the country on the right track,” Candela said.
Most Republicans say Trump hasn’t improved spending.
On a variety of economic factors, Trump has yet to convince many of his supporters that he is trying to change things for the better.
Based on the 2024 poll, only about 4 in 10 Republicans overall said President Trump did at least “a little” to address the cost of living issue in his second term, while 79% said he did much to address the issue in his first term. A new poll shows just over half of Republicans say Trump helped create jobs during his second term. Eighty-five percent said the same about his first term, and 62% said he was a “great help.”
In a January poll, only 26% of Republicans said he had contributed “a lot” to job creation during his second term.
And when it comes to health care spending, about one-third of Republicans say Mr. Trump has done at least “some” to reduce costs, and in an April 2024 poll, 53% said he had done much to reduce health care costs during the president’s first term. Federal health benefits for more than 20 million Americans will expire on January 1st; Medical costs will double or even triple For many families.
Ryan James Hughes, a 28-year-old children’s pastor who voted for Trump three times in Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas, said he doesn’t feel his family’s financial situation has improved. He said medical costs have not decreased.
But, he said, “I don’t depend on the government for my financial future.”
Despite controversy, immigration remains a strength for Trump’s base
While some have reported concerns about federal immigration agents who have flocked to U.S. cities at President Trump’s direction, the polls show that Republicans are getting mostly the results they want on immigration.
About 8 in 10 Republicans say President Trump did at least “a little” on immigration and border security during his second term. This is similar to the share in an April 2024 poll that found Trump’s leadership on immigration and border security during his first term had a positive impact.
Most Republicans say Mr. Trump is striking the right balance when it comes to deporting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, but about a third think he hasn’t gone far enough.
But President Trump’s approval rating on immigration has also declined among Republicans over the past year, dropping from 88% in March to 76% in this poll.
Kevin Kellenberger, 69, a retired printing company worker who voted for Trump three times, said his Christian faith inspired him to become a Republican. The Lancaster, Ohio, resident believes the president’s immigration crackdown is necessary. The recent murder of Renee Goode By Federal Immigration Services in Minneapolis.
“I don’t like to see anyone killed, but it’s not President Trump’s fault,” Kellenberger said, adding that Democratic President Joe Biden “let millions of people into the country. They have to be removed.”
Several Republicans said in interviews that they thought the aggressive tactics seen recently in Minneapolis went too far and suggested that Trump should focus more on immigrants with criminal records, as he promised during his campaign.
Overall, only 38% of American adults approve of President Trump’s leadership on immigration, while 61% disapprove.
“Families that are being separated are just trying to live the American dream,” said Republican Liz Gonzalez, 40, the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a self-employed rancher and farmer from Palestine, Texas.
At the same time, Gonzalez said he believes those who oppose repression should not interfere at all. “I think if they just let (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) do their job, like the guys on patrol, they would know that’s not the case. There’s no need to be confused,” she said.
Many Republicans think the country is better than their personal lives.
About two-thirds of Republicans say the country as a whole is “a lot” or “somewhat” better off than it was before Trump took office, but only about half say that about themselves and their families.
The broader sense that the country is moving in the right direction may offset Republican complaints about the state of the economy.
Phyllis Gilpin, 62, a Republican from Booneville, Missouri, praised Trump’s ability to “really listen to the people.” However, she does not like his personality.
“He’s so arrogant,” she said, expressing her dissatisfaction with his name-calling. But she said the political divide goes both ways: “Honestly, I wish we could all come together and not be Democrats or Republicans.”
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,203 adults was conducted Jan. 8-11 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. The poll included interviews with 404 Republicans and had a margin of sampling error for Republicans overall of plus or minus 6 percentage points.
