Americans Have Little Faith in Trump’s Economic Agenda, Believe Prices Will Rise

Tonight, President Trump will deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress as a de facto State of the Union Address. The speech comes as Americans sour on Trump’s economy, with voters demanding Trump pay more attention to lowering the cost of living. Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens previewed the speech with the following statement:

“President Trump will make many empty promises about lowering costs tonight, but his priorities are crystal clear. Between launching trade wars with allies, Elon Musk’s gutting of vital programs, and paying for tax giveaways for the wealthy with cuts to health care and food assistance, the president is launching a war on people’s pocketbooks. Any rhetoric to the contrary tonight will ring hollow.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with a Groundwork expert about the Trump administration’s approach to the economy.

BACKGROUND

• Growing worries about Trump’s handling of the economy. Recently, Gallup found that Trump’s approval rating on the economy was just 42% – his lowest ever rating on the economy as president. In polling from Reuters/IPSOS, 41% said they approved of Trump’s management of the economy while only 34% said they approved of the way he was handling the cost of living.
• Wall Street and business leaders are raising concerns about Trump’s economy. Wall Street analysts at Moody’s, Comerica, FWDBonds, Raymond James and Bridgewater are raising concerns about Trump’s economy and business leaders are expressing dissatisfaction. Mark Zandi at Moody’s recently said, “If confidence continues to fall for another three months, and consumers actually pack it in, then game over.” In January, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell and the Uncertainty Index rose 14 points to 100 – the third-highest recorded reading.
• People want action on lower prices. 66% of voters said Trump wasn’t focusing enough on lowering prices, according to a Feb. 9 poll from CBS/YouGov. In a Marist poll, 57% of Americans think the price of groceries will increase in the next six months. A CNN/SRSS poll found that 62% of people say the president has “not gone far enough” in trying to reduce prices.
• People do not trust Elon Musk and his leadership of DOGE. In a recent poll from Groundwork and Hart Research, a majority of voters (59%) disapproved of Elon Musk and believed he has too much influence (57%). While voters believe government can be inefficient, 59% of voters, including 68% of independents, believe the bigger problem with government is that it prioritizes the interests of billionaires like Musk over regular Americans.
• Elon Musk’s rampant conflicts of interest intersect with DOGE’s early moves. Eleven federal agencies that have seen staff cuts or firings were conducting more than 32 investigations, complaints or enforcement actions against six of Musk’s companies. Musk and his companies enjoy billions of dollars in federal contracts. With Starlink already benefitting, Musk’s dogged pursuit of government data and contracts continues.
• The GOP’s top legislative priority is set to be a massive tax giveaway to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of everyday people. Trump and his allies in Congress are pushing $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the ultra-rich—while making working families foot the bill by slashing health care, food assistance, and other essential programs families rely on. That means 36 million people losing Medicaid, 40 million (including 1 in 5 children) facing SNAP cuts, and millions of students and borrowers paying more for college and loans so that those in the top 0.1% can get an average tax break of more than $300,000 each.
• Sweeping federal layoffs risk economic slowdown. Investment firm Apollo Global Management estimates that federal layoffs could reach 1 million workers, pushing up the unemployment rate and having negative effects across the economy. These firings are not about making the government more efficient or improving services, instead they are about using savings to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and dismantling the federal agencies that hold people like Elon Musk and his businesses accountable.