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As Republicans and Trump allies breathe a sigh of relief over the dialing back of tariffs, no one should look at this moment and believe that Republicans are anything other than electorally doomed.
It turns out that the fundamental problem that is making both Trump and his party extremely unpopular hasn’t gone anywhere.
In fact, the situation is getting worse.
The latest Quinnipiac University Poll found:
In the wake of President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on dozens of countries, a vast majority of voters (72 percent) think the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in the short-term, while a smaller majority (53 percent) think the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in the long-term as well, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea- ack) University national poll of registered voters released today.
For the short-term, 72 percent of voters think the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy, while 22 percent think the tariffs will help the U.S. economy.
97% of Democrats, 77% of Independents, and 44% of Republicans all believe that tariffs will harm the economy. Considering that the tariffs have been dialed back but aren’t going away, that seems like a pretty big problem remaining for Republicans.
So, Trump backed down and turned down a little bit of the heat on one of the many crises that he has created.
Trump’s approval rating is still underwater, as only 41% approve of the job he is doing as president. The tariffs hadn’t hit Americans in the wallets yet, but it was the same dark cloud of a problem that was dragging Trump down before he decided to play trade warrior that is at the top of voters’ minds.
