46 percent say Trump changing economy for the worse: Survey

More Americans think that President Trump is changing the U.S. economy for the worse than for the better, according to a survey released Monday.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that 46 percent of Americans said Trump is changing the U.S. economy for the worse, while 42 percent argued he is steering it on a better path. Some 11 percent said Trump’s handling of the economy has not provided any “real” change.

The survey was conducted before the president followed through on his promise to impose tariffs on the country's biggest trading partners — China, Mexico and Canada.

Recent polling has indicated that U.S. adults’ confidence in Trump’s ability to manage the country’s economy — the top issue in the 2024 presidential election — has been slipping, The Hill previously reported. The public has shown concerns about inflation, jobs and affordability.

Overall, 45 percent of U.S. adults said the direction Trump is leading the nation is a change for the better, although 48 percent said the direction is for the worse, according to Monday's results. About 7 percent said that no real change has taken place at all.

The public is more receptive to the policies and actions the current administration has implemented on the immigration front. Around 47 percent said the commander in chief is changing the U.S. immigration policy for the better, while 43 percent said otherwise, according to the poll, and some 1 in 10 respondents said they have not seen any real change.

Nearly half of Americans, 49 percent, said Trump is moving U.S. foreign policy in a worse direction, while 44 percent stated his altering of the country’s foreign affairs is a positive change, the poll found.

About 53 percent of U.S. adults said the the state of the union is “not very strong” or not “strong at all"; 74 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents expressed those sentiments.

About 47 percent of Americans said the country is “very strong” or “strong,” a view 77 percent of Republicans agree with. In 2023, 63 percent said the state of the union was not very strong or not strong at all, the pollster noted.

More than half of Americans, 54 percent, said the U.S. is going in the “wrong” direction, while 45 percent said it is moving on the right path. The figures represent an uptick from three months ago, when 64 percent said the country was on the wrong track while 35 percent disagreed, according to the survey.

The poll was conducted Feb. 24-26 among 1,694 U.S. adults. The margin of error was 2.8 percentage points. Among the 1,533 registered voters in the survey, the margin of error was 3 percentage points.

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