Trump's Trials - Trump's economic approval hits a new low at 36%, poll finds

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Towards the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It's his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. We're under invasion from within. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will. We all serve at the pleasure of the president. The golden age of America is upon us. We are in the golden age. Every episode of Trump's terms, we bring you NPR's latest coverage of the 47th president.

With a focus on actions and policies he is pursuing on his own terms and in the process, taking the presidency into uncharted territory. Today's story starts right after this. I'm Steve Inskeep. So what do Americans think about affordability? You know that word that Democrats consider a key word and which the president referred to as, quote, a Democrat hoax. A new NPR PBS News, Marist Poll,

examines how much the cost of living is affecting people. An NPR's senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro, is here at the same price as ever free. Domenico, good morning. Thank you. But we get our money's worth for sure. What stands out for you? Well, first of all, you know, it's been clear from all the polling this year, from last year's election, from this year's elections, that the economy is people's top concern and it's a motivating issue for voters. What jumps out in this poll is just how much people are saying that they're struggling. You know, 70% of people say that the area where they live is no longer affordable for average families. That's up from 45% in Amaris poll in June. That's a huge increase. 61% say the economy is not working well for them personally. More people say their financial situation has gotten worse than better in the past year.

And a majority of people think the country is already in a recession. Oh, well, this reminds me of polling from a year or two ago when people thought we were in a recession and we just weren't. And here this is happening again. Why? Yeah, I mean, most people aren't using technical economic measurements of gross domestic product and whether we have two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which is the technical definition of it. This is about how they feel. And a big reason is because prices just they feel are high and that they feel like they can't get ahead. You know, we asked what people's top economic concern was and prices just leapt out. 45% of people said prices was their top economic concern. Nothing else came close. Housing was second at 18%. Tariffs were third at 15%. And job security was after that at 10%. And we saw and just heard about that underwhelming jobs report yesterday. What do the poll respondents mean when they say they feel they can't get ahead?

Yeah, and this was a huge piece of this poll that jumped out. Seven and ten say that their expenses either match or exceed their income every month. You know, when you dig in, a quarter of people said that their expenses are more than their monthly income. If you calculate that out, there are 267 million adults in this country. That means that some 64 million Americans are just accruing debt month to month. You know, health care costs were just a. big concern. A majority of respondents say that they're worried that their household. A majority won't be able to pay for health care services in the next 12 months. And with almost all of

these questions, we saw huge divides by race, gender, age, and income. Those were black and Latino, women, people under 45, and those who make less money were far more affected by these economic stressors. As you're talking, I'm remembering that Latinos, lots of them crossed over to vote for President Trump and told pollsters it was because of their concern about prices. What is it mean that things aren't getting better for them? Yeah, and we've seen poll after poll and elections this year that show plenty of evidence that support the cratering of Latino support for President Trump and the GOP. In this poll, Trump has just a 38% approval overall for his job, his worst of his second term. Latinos had an even lower 32% approval rating of him. On Trump's handling of the

economy specifically, he gets a 36% approval rating. That's his worst mark in the six years that Maris has been asking this question. It's tied in that time only with former President Biden in 2022 as inflation was hitting hard. You know, that same year, Republicans were more trusted than Democrats on handling the economy by 16 points. Now that's turned around. And it's Democrats who are trusted more ever so slightly, but it represents a 20-point shift. This has to be yet another major warning sign for Republicans considering running for office next year. And Trump's got his work cut out for him in trying to convince people that his party is going to set the country back on the right economic track, right now, people are just not seeing it.

Yet another political environment where whoever is in power is getting very, very low marks for whatever is going on. Domenico, thanks so much. You're welcome. NPR's Domenico Montanaro. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org.

Find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR.