Majority of Americans see Trump’s economic moves as too erratic, poll finds

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - WASHINGTON, March 12 — A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump is being too “erratic” in his moves to shake up the US economy, as his imposition of tariffs against some of the nation’s top trading partners hammers stock markets, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Some 57 per cent of respondents, including one in three Republicans, said the president’s policies have been unsteady as his efforts to tax imports have set off a global trade war, according to the two-day poll that closed on Wednesday.

Americans instead want Trump to continue to focus on combating high prices even as there are growing concerns his policies will drive costs up, not down, the poll found.

Trump’s imposition of tariffs on allies such as Canada and Mexico and his refusal to rule out a recession has spooked US markets. The S&P 500 has lost more than US$3 trillion (RM13.3 trillion) in value since its all-time peak last month.

In response, the White House has said that some short-term economic pain might be necessary for Trump to implement his trade agenda, which is intended to drive manufacturing back to the US

Wall Street has been shaken by some of Trump’s whipsaw policy reversals. On Tuesday, Trump announced more severe tariffs on Canadian metals — causing stocks to fall — and then dropped the threat later that day after Canada made a concession.

Overall, 44 per cent of respondents said they approved of the job Trump was doing as president, unchanged from a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted March 3-4. He got particularly weak marks on the issue of the cost of living, where just 32 per cent of respondents approved of his performance.

And most of them — 70 per cent including nine in 10 Democrats and six in 10 Republicans —said they expected higher tariffs will make groceries and other regular purchases more expensive.

For most of his political career, Trump — a real estate developer turned reality TV star — has pointed to the strength of the stock market as an indication of economic health. But since returning to office, he has downplayed it.

“Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down. We have to rebuild our country,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.

That’s a sharp change in tune from his first term, when, in March 2017, Trump celebrated the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI blasting through the 21,000 mark for the first time.

“Since November 8th, Election Day, the Stock Market has posted $3.2 trillion in GAINS and consumer confidence is at a 15 year high. Jobs!” Trump at the time posted on the site now called X.

A White House spokeswoman on Wednesday urged patience, calling the market’s performance “a snapshot of a moment in time, and we expect there will be good days and there will be bad days, but ultimately, Wall Street and Main Street are going to benefit from this president’s policies, as they did in his first term.”

Inflation was far and away the top concern of respondents to the poll. Six in ten respondents said that was the issue they thought Trump should prioritise, far more than those who cited other presidential priorities including reducing the size of government, addressing immigration and fighting crime.

Recession warnings

Some analysts have painted a gloomier picture. Investment bank JP Morgan sees the risk of a US recession this year at around 40 per cent, and considers an economic downturn even more likely if Trump follows through with another planned wave of tariffs in April.

Already, the White House has steepened levies on Chinese-made goods and on Wednesday hiked taxes on a wide range of imported automotive and tractor parts, construction materials and machinery parts — much of which are purchased from Canada and Mexico. Canada and the European Union on Wednesday pledged to retaliate with their own trade barriers on US products.

Inflation, which surged under Trump’s predecessor in office, Democrat Joe Biden, remains high and is expected to increase due to tariffs, analysts say.

Despite the volatility, Republicans on Capitol Hill and Trump’s supporters still support his economic vision.

Senator Roger Marshall told Reuters he believes the market was “overvalued.”

“The market is one piece of the puzzle,” Marshall, of Kansas, told Reuters. “There’s other things going on: How do we get interest rates down, bringing manufacturing jobs here. I think it’s all a pretty complicated picture.”

Others acknowledged that the declines were a worry for Americans, particularly retirees and those approaching retirement age sensitive to their retirement savings accounts.

“We all know that people who are relying on retirement accounts watch them daily. And so, I think maybe he needs to be a little more sensitive to that,” said Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut viewed the sell-off differently. “It may not make any difference to him, because he’s a billionaire. But to the everyday investor, it’s a really big deal to lose this amount of money,” he said.

Nearly 80 per cent of Republicans in the two-day poll said they agreed with a statement that Trump’s actions on the economy “will pay off in the long run,” a sign that some people in Trump’s party have faith in his policies even if they are nervous about the short-term effects.

Forty-one percent of respondents overall — and just 5 per cent if Democrats — said Trump’s policies would pay off eventually.

Americans for Responsible Growth, an advocacy group representing Democratic state treasurers, called Trump’s approach “chaotic” and said it was harming investors across the nation.

“What may have seemed like a quick fix in Trump’s mind has become a big mess that will not only take a long time to clean up, but has also left consumers and businesses with higher prices, fewer choices, and more uncertainty,” said Dave Wallack, the group’s executive director.

The poll surveyed 1,422 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error for all respondents of 3 percentage points. — Reuters