A poll shows that Americans are more dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of the economy than ever before

A new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll shows that Americans give President Donald Trump his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy, while also expressing concerns about the cost of living, health care prices and personal finances.

57% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling the economy, which was once seen as one of the president’s strengths. 36% say the president is doing a good job, the lowest level this poll found during his two terms in office.

57% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling the economy, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. 36% say the president is doing a good job, the lowest level this poll found during his two terms in office. Graphic by Steve Staples/PBS News.

Declining support for Trump on the economic front is likely to be a major factor dragging down his overall approval rating — 38% of Americans think Trump is doing a good job as president, the lowest percentage since the end of his first term.

“This is a big problem for him,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “When affordability is at the forefront of people’s minds, it will be placed on the CEO’s doorstep.”

Seven in 10 Americans say the cost of living in their area is unaffordable, including nearly half of Republicans and three-quarters of independents, according to the latest poll. Three in 10 Americans say the cost of living is affordable, having fallen by 25 percentage points since June.

“The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to get these numbers back,” said Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report. “It becomes a self-fulfilling situation. People don’t feel confident in you, and they think prices keep going up.”

Public frustration with the economy also plagued Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, during his presidency. When inflation began to peak in early 2022, Biden’s approval of the economy also fell to 36% before improving slightly by the end of his term.

Trump took advantage of voters’ economic dissatisfaction during the 2024 presidential election to regain the Oval Office. Now these same sentiments may pose a potential danger to Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

Registered voters were more likely to say the Democratic Party would do a better job than the Republican Party, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. Graphic by Steve Staples/PBS News.

On the economy, registered voters were more likely to say the Democratic Party would do a better job than the Republican Party, by 40% to 35%. Independent voters gave Democrats an 11-point lead in this poll (although the margin of error for this group was 6.2).

It’s a dramatic shift from September 2022, months before the last midterm elections, when Republicans held a 15-point advantage on the economy with voters overall and a 23-point advantage with independents.

With the GOP now in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, “it’s hard to point the finger at Biden’s economics and say that’s what’s driving this situation,” Miringoff said.

Miringoff added that while Democrats are well positioned for the midterms right now, their support for the issue has not fully solidified. Democrats made affordability issues their top concern in this off-year election and are likely to continue to do so. “This might be where you throw some punches, then step back and hope the other side collapses,” Miringoff said.

Americans don’t see brighter days in 2026

Seven in 10 Americans say the cost of living in their area is unaffordable, including nearly half of Republicans and three-quarters of independents, according to the latest poll. Graphic by Dan Cooney/PBS News.

Economic concerns are fueling a general sense of pessimism as 2025 draws to a close. More than half of Americans (57%) described themselves as having a more negative view of what will come in the next year, while 43% said they were more optimistic. It is a reversal from a year ago when the majority felt hopeful about what would happen in 2025.

Walter said that a year ago, people felt that 2025 might offer some relief as commodity prices stabilized. But that didn’t happen, and now people are less inclined to believe it will happen next year.

Instead, commodity prices remain the top economic concern for Americans in this latest poll, with 45% listing the issue as their most pressing — more than double the number who cited any of the other options, including housing costs, tariffs, job security or interest rates.

Even as the president began to acknowledge affordability issues and promised to bring prices under control, he also dismissed the concerns as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

Some Republicans in Congress have publicly broken with the president over his repeated claims. “The affordability or inability of Americans to live is not a Democratic trick,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, told PBS News Hour host Amna Nawaz last week. Greene, who will resign from her seat in Congress next month, pointed to record credit card debt as one factor in the economy’s continued instability.

Americans are experiencing this firsthand, Miringoff said, and Trump’s continued denial of how Americans feel about the cost of living “creates a bigger problem” for him and could risk turning gentle winds “into a hurricane.”

How Trump voters view the economy right now

People listen Dec. 9 as President Donald Trump delivers remarks about the U.S. economy and affordability at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. Photography by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.

These concerns about the economy have emerged even among people like Roger Chester, 48, an independent from Illinois who voted for the president last year. He said Trump’s governing philosophy is best described as changing winds.

“He’s not a conservative. He’s not a liberal. He’s not one of the above,” Chester said. “He’s literally blowing with the wind to get what his base wants and that’s it. And that’s a good thing. That’s all I want politicians to do.”

Chester said he has had a “love-hate” relationship with Trump since the president first ran for office a decade ago. He now says the president is a “populist puppet.”

While Chester said commodity prices are “horrendous” and “unbearable,” he doesn’t blame Trump alone.

“He’s the only person who actually made an effort to deliver on any of the promises he made, and he certainly wasn’t perfect,” he added.

He watches: Trump says ‘affordability’ is a ‘con job’ by Democrats

To stay afloat, Chester, who lost his job at a casino several years ago, says he works seven days a week to support his family. He also believes the United States has to go through tough times to emerge to a better place economically, with more jobs and better wages.

“I’m willing to suffer. I’ll never retire. That’s how things are,” he said. “I would do almost anything to get a better life for my son.”

Hundreds of miles away in North Carolina, independent Justine Hawkins is also playing the economic long game. The health care worker and mother of three was an undecided Trump voter last year.

She said the economy is doing mostly well for her upper-middle-class family, but she disagrees with the president’s assertion that affordability is a sham.

“If you walk into any grocery store, you know everything costs more money,” she said.

Hawkins said that while everyone is feeling uncomfortable right now — especially during the holiday shopping rush — she’s trying to prioritize basic needs over things she might want. She hopes that Trump’s policies, such as tariffs on imported goods, will eventually bear fruit.

“If I looked at it today, I would say, ‘Oh, I’m so unhappy,'” Hawkins said. “I think in the long run, we as a nation will be better off because of it.”

Others strongly disagree with this prediction, including some Republican voters. In this poll, the president’s support from his party has fallen five points since last month.

Sherri Kamphus, 61, is a Republican who has become disillusioned with Trump.

She lives in Illinois, a strongly Democratic state, and voted for Trump last year. She likes the way the president is handling some issues, like immigration. But that approval is outweighed by economic concerns, the main area in which she said the president failed to meet her expectations.

“It was supposed to help with food prices. That was the main reason I voted for him,” she said. “Food prices continue to rise.”

Her frustration has extended to the Republican Party.

“They promised they would do better, but they didn’t deliver,” she said. “They are not doing what they promised, especially regarding the economy and inflation.”

A majority say they are concerned about the cost of health care

For millions more, the cost of health care remains a critical concern, as the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced subsidies are certain to expire at the end of the year. Average monthly premiums are likely to double on average, and millions of Americans are expected to drop coverage entirely.

More than half of Americans worry that they will not be able to pay for needed health care services in the next year. 46% say they are not worried.

Watch: How Affordable Care Act subsidies work and who depends on them

But the perspective is sharply divided along income, race, and age:

• 67% of people making less than $50,000 feel anxious while 47% of those making more than $50,000 say the same.
• 47% of white respondents expressed concern, compared to 69% of black voters and 65% of Latino voters.
• 63% of people under 30 feel anxious. 40% of over 60s say the same.

While the poll paints a troubling picture about the overall state of the economy, there are some potential signs of hope for the Trump administration.

Two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the impact of the president’s tariffs, but as he has rolled back some and announced fewer, the proportion of those who are concerned has fallen by 14 points since June.

Additionally, half of Americans believe the US economy is currently in a recession, the lowest number who believe so since 2010.

The survey also found:

• 39% say the economy is doing well for them personally.
• 21% say their family finances improved in the past year; 35% say their condition has become worse; 44% say things have mostly remained the same.
• 33% expect their financial situation to improve in the next year – down 15 percentage points since June. 29% believe that things will get worse, and 39% expect their situation to remain as it is.

For many Americans, the cumulative impact of all the mounting economic pressures may be extremely difficult to manage.

Republican Illinois state representative Sheri Kamphus has been married for 41 years and now stays home full-time to care for her disabled husband. They pay all their bills, stick to their budget and try to live within their means, she said. Every month continues to be a challenge.

“There’s a difference between living and surviving,” Kamphus said. “We are alive.”

PBS News, NPR and Marist Poll conducted the poll from December 8 through December 11, 2025, of 1,440 American adults by phone, text and online with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points, and 1,261 registered voters with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.