New Polling: Confidence Plummets in Trump Bringing Down Costs
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TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Saeed Mousavi, Climate Power Director of Insights & Polling
DATE: March 21, 2025
RE: New Polling: Confidence Plummets in Trump Bringing Down Costs
According to a new poll from Hart Research conducted on behalf of Climate Power, President Trump’s approval rating is underwater as Americans lose confidence in his ability to bring down costs. From December to now, confidence in Trump’s ability to deal with energy costs dropped by 9 points.
As Democrats make their case to the American people, they must bring arguments back to costs and the economy. As the reality of Trump’s policies set in, Americans don’t like what they see. Continued pressure now can help define the next two or four years. They also have to navigate a risk: right now, Americans don’t feel Democrats are doing enough for consumers either. Democrats have to show up and show their work as they fight back against the destructive actions of the Trump administration.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The negative effects of Trump’s policies and actions are breaking through. 55% of respondents, including 64% of independents, disapprove of Donald Trump’s job as president. When asked why, spiking prices and poor handling of the economy were leading responses.
Views of Elon Musk are also turning sharply negative as Americans begin to feel the impacts of his work dismantling services they rely on. In March, 54% of Americans viewed Musk negatively compared to just 44% in February.
Americans are losing confidence in Trump’s ability to bring down prices – and they’re losing confidence fast. Confidence in Trump’s ability to handle the issues that matter to them has taken a nose dive compared to shortly before he took office.
- 55% say they are not confident in Trump’s ability to deal with energy costs compared to just 46% who said the same in December.
- 57% are not confident in Trump’s ability to deal with inflation and cost of living.
- 53% are not confident in Trump’s ability to deal with gas prices, which rose from 41% in December.
- 52% said they are not confident in Trump’s ability to create good-paying jobs, a 10 point jump from December.
Americans increasingly blame Trump for higher costs. 46% of Americans think Donald Trump is making energy prices worse for consumers, an 11 point increase from December 2024.
- Just one-third of Americans think Donald Trump is keeping his promise to lower costs. 47% of independents said Donald Trump is NOT keeping his promise to lower costs.
- While a plurality (44%) of Americans believed in December that Trump’s policies would bring down gas prices, that has flipped and now a plurality (45%) believe Trump’s policies will cause gas prices to go up.
- A plurality (48%) of Americans, including 56% of independents and even 18% of Republicans, believe Donald Trump is raising their electricity bills.
The Path Forward
Trump has a real vulnerability on costs and the economy. But none of these trends are guaranteed to persist on their own and right now the American public doesn’t think Democrats are doing enough either. Today, 45% of respondents say that Democrats are actually making things worse for the American consumer. That means that even as Democrats further define Trump by the higher costs he’s unleashed on the American public, they still need to shore up support for their own agenda.
From hundreds of families in deep-red Alabama who saw a $100 increase in their monthly utility bills to spiking costs at the grocery store, Americans are feeling the squeeze and blaming the Trump administration. Democrats have a critical opening to define the first months of Trump’s second term as one that set the country on a path of rising costs, higher inflation, and a looming recession.
About This Poll
This online poll was conducted by Hart Research March 10–16 and interviewed 1,007 Registered Voters nationwide—responses have been validated by voter file matching. The poll has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.