Most Americans in a new poll say the wealthy and large corporations will benefit the most from President Trump’s tariffs on various imports and trade policies.
In the latest CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, 74 percent said that Trump’s tariffs and trade policies will benefit wealthy people, and 71 percent said they will benefit large corporations. Half of the Americans polled said they would benefit the U.S. auto industry.
Still, 42 percent of respondents said they see the working and middle class benefitting from the tariffs as well, with 45 percent saying they will benefit labor unions. Thirty-nine percent said the tariffs will benefit small businesses.
Financial markets experienced whiplash after the impacts of Trump’s economic agenda. At first, the economy took a dramatic tumble earlier last week after the president implemented a flat 10 percent tariff on all goods coming into the country, alongside steeper reciprocal tariffs against dozens of nations.
However, by Wednesday, Trump temporarily paused most tariffs while increasing tariffs against Chinese goods by 125 percent on top of the 20 percent duty levied against the world’s second largest economy earlier this year.
An increasing number of respondents say that Trump’s policies are making them financially worse off. The latest poll found that 49 percent said they are worse off, a seven-point increase since March, while 30 percent said they are the same, a five-point decrease. Twenty-three percent said Trump’s policies are making them better off financially, a two-point decrease since March.
The downward trend continues in Trump’s rating on his handling of the economy. The poll found that 44 percent approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, a seven-point drop since the beginning of March, while 56 percent say they disapprove of Trump’s handling, a seven-point increase.
The poll was conducted on 2,410 U.S. adults from April 8 to 11 with a margin of error of ±2.4 points.
