President Trump has just reached a crucial stage early in the second term of his presidency. Sandwiched between his abject capitulation on tariffs and the bitter fight over his tax breaks for fat cats and plutocrats, he now owns this creaky economy.
The big opinion news is that a new national survey for CBS News indicates that former President Joe Biden is off the hook and Trump is on the hot seat for the nation’s economic woes. Twice as many Americans hold Trump responsible for the sorry state of the economy as Biden. And most people believe the economy has gotten worse since Trump was inaugurated in January.
Six weeks ago, a bare majority of the public approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. Now, a clear majority disapprove. The decline in approval for the president matches the drop in consumer confidence. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Confidence Index this month plunged to the second lowest level since 1952. Six out of every ten people give him bad grades for handling inflation. The public remembers that he made a campaign promise that prices would drop on day one of his second term.
The go-to Republican response is to blame Biden for our national economic woes, but the CBS poll demonstrates that this sorry excuse will fall on deaf ears. If the bad financial news continues into 2026, Republicans in competitive districts and states will need to scramble to hang on to to their seats. Rank-and-file Republicans are still behind the president and his policies but independents who live in swing districts are not happy campers. Only one-fourth of independents think the economy is in good shape.
The bad economic news has not gone unnoticed. The prospect of a recession now hangs over Trump like the sword of Damocles.
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Ray Dalio, the founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, went as far as to say that the United States could be headed into an economic crisis that is “something worse than a recession.”
The economic excrement is about to hit the oscillating cooling device. As the economy declines, Trump’s erratic financial policies could put it in freefall. Democratic strategist James Carville feels that the president has broken the cardinal rule of American politics which is “Never destabilize the economy.”
The public backlash against his big tax hike on imported goods contributed to the president’s decline in the polls. His terrible tariff plan was a dangerous riverboat gamble that threw the economy into a raging fit of chaos and confusion. The stock market and 401(k) retirement accounts declined and the proposal fanned fears of inflation. Fearing the political blowback, he raised the white flag on his foolish gambit.
The survey conducted after Trump’s tariff surrender shows the damage done by his risky handling of the controversial issue. Close to six out of every ten people opposed his plan to dramatically raise import taxes.
House Republicans last week passed a budget resolution that will pave the way for huge tax cuts for bankers and billionaires with massive cuts in medical benefits and nutrition programs.
The president may be able to sell his unfair tax cuts to a compliant Republican Congress, but the public will not be in much of a mood to buy. The new numbers demonstrate the problems he encountered with his tariff proposals will carry over to selling his plan to cut taxes for the rich.
Seventy percent of the public thought his tariff proposals would benefit the wealthy and large corporations. Less than half of all Americans believed that the levies would help the middle and working classes.
Republicans who vote for the Trump tax giveaways do so at their own peril. Democrats need to acknowledge the perilous financial pain of most Americans and fight accordingly. If my party can’t stop the tax cuts for the privileged and the cuts in medical care and nutritional programs, it must stage a ferocious enough resistance to make sure Republican members pay for their indifference to the health, wealth and well-being of financially hard-pressed working families.
Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.
