Salon's Amanda Marcotte, in her analysis of the 2024 presidential election results, often draws a clear distinction between Donald Trump's hardcore MAGA base and "low-information" independents who expressed their frustration with the U.S. economy —especially inflation — by voting for Trump. The MAGA diehards are still passionate Trump supporters, whereas independents were willing to give Trump a chance but lack that unwavering devotion.
A year into Trump's second presidency, poll after poll finds him with low approval ratings on the economy — and that includes many independents who are still feeling frustrated.
In an article published on January 22, The Guardian's Eduardo Porter reports that Trump is making a variety of proposals in an effort to improve his poll numbers — and so far, is flailing badly.
"Facing negative poll numbers," Porter explains, "Trump is taking a tack that few Republicans have dared contemplate before: spewing out a rain of often incoherent proposals to signal he feels voters' pain, in order to recapture their affection. U.S. inflation held firm in December amid pressure on Trump over cost of living. History suggests it might work. Yet, a year's worth of policy pronouncements for the working class matched with policies to serve the rich may have exhausted voters' goodwill toward the Trump Administration."
The Guardian reporter continues, "Trump's promise to lower energy costs hasn't panned out. Household energy prices have risen 7.3 percent so far on his watch, more than twice as much as during (former U.S. President Joe) Biden's last year in office. His promise to revitalize the auto industry isn't performing as planned. And he hasn't gotten anywhere near 'cutting the cost of a new home in half.'"
Trump promised that his steep new tariffs would lead to a renaissance in manufacturing jobs, but according to Porter, those jobs aren't materializing.
"Indeed, as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has noted, tariffs are getting in the way of curbing inflation," Porter notes. "This has become a problem for the president. Forty-nine per cent of Americans think the economy is worse than it was a year ago, according to a Wall Street Journal Poll this month, while 54 percent disapprove of how the president has steered the economy. A survey for CNN found that 61 percent disagreed with Trump's economic policies…. From the mass deportation of immigrant workers to the tariffs on imports from all over the world — from his price caps on drugs and the equity stakes he has demanded from private firms — Trump's proposals show little coherence."
Read Eduardo Porter's full article for The Guardian at this link.
