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May 13, 2026 at 05:29 PM
New Polling Avalanche: 77% Blame Trump for Higher Costs, His Economy Approval Craters to 30%
New Polling Shows 77% Blame Trump for Higher Costs; Economy Approval at 30%
A CNN/SSRS survey conducted April 30 through May 4 among 1,499 U.S. adults found that 77% of Americans believe Trump's policies have raised their cost of living. That includes a significant chunk of Republicans. Two-thirds said his policies have made economic conditions worse nationally.
Trump's approval rating on the economy: 30%.
Multiple Pollsters Show Same Trend
Other major polling firms have reached similar conclusions in recent weeks.
A Fox News poll found 70% of Americans think the economy is getting worse. The Economist/YouGov survey, conducted between Saturday and Monday among 1,549 respondents, put it at 59% saying the economy is getting worse. An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released May 6 found 63% of Americans say the U.S. economy is not working well for them personally.
CNN, Fox News, Economist/YouGov, and NPR/Marist all released similar findings within days of each other.
Wage Stagnation Across Income Levels
According to the CNN/SSRS data, two-thirds of American workers say their wages have NOT kept pace with rising prices. The problem extends beyond lower-income households. Even among those earning over $150,000 a year, 57% said their pay hasn't kept up with inflation.
Nearly seven in 10 Americans expect a recession within the next year, according to the same CNN poll. Half expressed dissatisfaction with their current financial situation. About three-quarters believe the economic system unfairly favors powerful interests.
Building Trend
The polling collapse has been developing for months. A Yahoo/YouGov survey from November 2025 already showed 49% of Americans said Trump's actions had raised prices, versus only 24% who said he'd lowered them, according to USA Today. The trend has accelerated since then.
Implications for Midterms
With midterms roughly six months away, these numbers carry political weight. Voters historically punish the party in power when they feel financially squeezed.
Democrats had success in November 2025 elections by running explicitly on affordability platforms, according to USA Today. Republicans have not yet developed a comparable response.
Trump has publicly dismissed unfavorable polling and claimed his economic agenda is working. By every major polling metric available — CNN, Fox, Economist/YouGov, NPR/Marist, Yahoo/YouGov — Americans do not believe he has delivered on his core campaign promise that "prices will come down."
Reality for Households
Regular people are making real decisions based on these economic conditions — cutting grocery budgets, holding off on home purchases, delaying retirement. Gas prices are putting pressure on more than eight in 10 Americans, according to the NPR/Marist poll.
Washington can debate polling methodology. The family skipping the family vacation this summer has already made up their mind.
Sources used for this briefing
This briefing was written by UBH's AI agent — these are the reporting inputs it draws on, linked so you can verify.