Americans Doubt Trump on Economy Despite Strong Economic Data

Since taking office, Trump has consistently struggled to win public confidence on the economy. Although economic indicators suggest stability, skepticism has kept his approval rating on the issue negative, and broad concerns about the economy’s direction persist.

The latest poll from The Economist/YouGov found that on the economy, Trump fared three points worse than his overall approval, 41% vs 38%. On inflation/prices, only 32% approved, while 62% disapproved of how he’s handled the issue. In the RCP Average, his approval on the economy is about six points lower than his overall approval, at -12.3 net approval compared to -6.1.

This coincides with pessimism about the economy generally. According to the poll, only 24% said they think the economy is getting better, while 52% said it is getting worse. However, on the issue of personal finances, 29% said they predicted they will be better off financially in a year, while 27% said they think they will be worse off, and 31% said they think they’ll be in a similar financial position.

This pessimism about Trump and the economy comes despite ostensibly low unemployment and inflation numbers in recent months. In the latest jobs report, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.3%. This represents an uptick from the historically extremely low unemployment rates under Biden, which fell to 3.4%. However, it remains a generally low and healthy unemployment rate compared to historical standards.

Inflation is also approaching more normalized levels, despite initial concerns that tariffs would lead to a spike heading into the end of the year. The Federal Reserve’s inflation measure of choice, the personal consumption expenditure index, found that prices went up by 2.6% from July 2024 to July 2025, which is slightly above their goal of 2% inflation. This is much lower than inflation under Biden, however, which reached 7.1% in June 2022.

Despite a slightly negative GDP change in the first quarter of 2025, in the second quarter, GDP growth was also measured at 3.3%, which is close to the historical average. The S&P 500 is also up 18% over the last year, as of market close on Sept. 8.

All of this indicates that while not in a perfect position, the economy is well off. To ensure the unemployment rate does not continue ticking up, Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the Federal Reserve will likely lower interest rates after the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Sept. 16-17.

This announcement, for the moment, has staved off calls from the president for Powell to resign. Trump has consistently advocated for lowering interest rates, which should stimulate the economy as well as lower debt payments on the national debt. It should also help devalue the U.S. dollar compared with other currencies, helping decrease the trade deficit as well, another one of Trump’s objectives.

Despite Trump’s concern with the Federal Reserve, Americans have a general trust in it to control monetary policy. On the issue of setting interest rates, 28% said they had “a lot” of confidence in the Federal Reserve to set interest rates, while only 20% were not at all confident in it. The plurality, 48%, agreed with the Federal Reserve’s likely move next week to lower interest rates, while only 3% thought rates should be raised, and 19% said they should not change. As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Powell has 33% approval and 23% disapproval.