U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event to honor Angel Families who have lost family members to crimes committed by people in the country illegally, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 23, 2026. REUTERS
Voters are apparently still good and furious at the economy that President Donald Trump’s policies have created, but experts say they’re not going to be changing their minds about this in time for salvage Trump’s Republican Party by November.
“We know voters are struggling. They’re making trade-offs. I talked to single moms a while back who are struggling,” said MS NOW anchor Erielle Reshef. “Our own Alex Tabet has been in Ohio talking to voters. Here's what one of them told him.”
“The economy is terrible and our leadership is not as good as it used to be,” said Ohio voter Johnny Kitchen. “He's not doing what he's supposed to be doing. At least I don't feel he is. He's more doing for him than he is for the people.”
“That is how people feel out there. And to just put a fine point on that, a new CNBC All America survey found 61 percent of Americans are pessimistic about the current state of the economy,” continued Reshef. “The president can toss out all the positive messaging that he wants to at this point. But is there anything he can actually do to counter what those Americans out there are telling us, that they feel?”
“It's his very policies that are hurting middle income and lower income families,” said finance reporter Ron Isana. “Tariffs are boosting the cost of both goods and services. The war in Iran has cost individuals more when it comes to energy prices, electricity prices, when it comes to the cost of fertilizer for farmers.”
“But is it too late on those two things?” asked Reshef.
“Yeah, absolutely too late,” said Isana. “I mean, those prices are not coming down … My wife and I were at the grocery store just a few nights ago. We bought a 24 pack of spring water, a carton of strawberries, and two packages of blueberries. … It was $28.81. So, I mean, you know, for your eyes to pop out, just going to the grocery store for a handful of goods, you know that there's something going on here that people are experiencing on a day-to-day basis.”
“And the president is replacing the tariffs that the Supreme Court overturned with new tariffs,” Isana added. “So that's going to keep prices up. Transportation costs up, and the war is not over by any stretch of the imagination. So, energy while oil prices have come down, are still elevated relative to where they were. Gasoline is going to be $3.50 or $4 for a while. So, unless they were to take some bolder dramatic action, really all the benefits in this economy are accruing to upper middle income and upper income individuals who have exposure to the stock market or real estate.”
New York Times Chief White House correspondent Peter Baker said Trump is destroying himself and his party by insisting on entering his lame duck phase while promoting unwanted policies.
“The tariff argument that he's making is short term pain for long term gain, right? … Well, let's just say for the sake of argument, that that's true. A lot of people would dispute it. But even if that's true, it's not going to happen tomorrow. Those are the kinds of decisions that are made over long periods of time. And a lot of companies are looking at the erratic nature of these tariffs. They're up, they're down, they're on, they’re off. They're not going to make long term decisions based on things that they see as being short term, political situations. And they know he's going to be gone in two years. So, the benefits that he wants to put in place for these tariffs are probably not going to be the kind of thing that the voters are going to see in the next few months,” said Baker.
“That K-shaped economy that everybody talks about is very much in force,” said Isana. “… what people are feeling and experiencing is real. And, you know, the stock market can go to records, but not everybody benefits from that.”
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