Americans have mixed feelings about key parts of Donald Trump’s economic agenda, though the president-elect returns to the White House with greater enthusiasm from supporters than his previous term, according to a new poll.
Trump has promised a sweeping economic overhaul, including high tariffs on major U.S. trading partners and massive tax cuts, the latter of which the Senate Committee on the Budget found would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.
Economists have already warned the plans could raise consumer prices and balloon the deficit, and voters seem to be sharing some of the skepticism.
A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll finds that just two percent of voters think Trump’s top priority should be major tariffs of the sort the Republican has threatened China, Mexico, and Canada with in recent months. Another 53 percent, meanwhile, said that Congress under Trump should focus on cutting the federal deficit, even if it means not extending Trump’s signature tax cuts.
“Keeps going back to the economy − I want him to fix it,” Brandon Porria, 30, a political independent who voted for Trump in November told USA Today. “The one thing I don’t want him to do is, you know, be petty and … waste time going after people that might have had ill feelings toward him.”
Trump’s economic plans have already faced roadblocks, including a chaotic, last-minute government funding bill passed in December that left out an extension of the debt limit Trump had requested to free up fiscal space for his plans.
Still, despite some divergences between the Trump plans and voters’ priorities, Americans overall are more excited about Trump this time around, according to the poll, conducted between between January 7 and 11.
Among respondents, 31 percent said they were “excited” Trump is back in the White House, double the share that reported a similar feeling just before the Republican’s first inauguration in 2016.
When it comes to Trump’s performance, 52 percent told the poll they approved of Trump’s job in office, higher ratings than the Republican ever got while he was actually in office.
American executives are certainly excited about Trump’s plans, or at least are making a concerted relationship to build ties with the new administration.
Corporate donations from firms like Amazon and Meta have poured into Trump’s inaugural fund, projected to smash records and raise more than $150 million.
In a sign of C-suite solidarity, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos reportedly plan to sit together at Trump’s inauguration.
As The Independent has reported, Washington hotels are planning to offer lavish packages including helicopter rides, butlers, and shopping sprees for the VIPs planning to flood the capital.
