A new poll released Monday shows a growing number of Americans are seriously concerned about their ability to find jobs as President Donald Trump’s economy has taken a considerable turn for the worse.
The NORC Center for Public Affairs poll for The Associated Press found that 47% of Americans said that they were “not very” or “not at all” confident that they could find a job if they wanted to. That’s an increase of 10% from November 2023, when President Joe Biden was in office.
Trump campaigned in 2024 by bashing Biden on the economy, even though data on all fronts showed significant recovery from the economic mess he inherited in 2021. And economic improvement is one of the many things that Trump has failed to deliver on, after promising to accomplish it “on Day 1.”
President Donald Trump announces his first round of tariffs on April 2.
One of the biggest sources of consumer fear is electricity costs, with 36% of Americans citing it as a “major” concern. That figure comes as Trump has pushed for artificial intelligence to be deregulated, even as experts have warned that the new technology is a major consumer of electrical power and could be adding to energy costs.
“Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the economy with his unhinged trade war and disastrous policies—and working families are paying the price,” the Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer said in a statement.
She added, “Costs on everything from groceries to electricity have increased, and good-paying jobs have become nearly impossible to find. He’s sold out working Americans in order to line the pockets of the rich and powerful—while attempting to tighten his grip on power.”
Trump and congressional Republicans have pushed an agenda that has shut down the government—not only hurting federal workers but also the businesses that rely on federal spending. At the same time, Trump has put aside funding for ICE’s brutal anti-immigrant harassment and detention campaign.
Perhaps most devastating—and avoidable—is the toll Trump’s idiotic tariffs have taken on the economy. Tariffs have increased the cost of doing business while failing to generate the number of trade deals Trump promised, particularly with China. The Trump effect is now hurting a wide array of industries, particularly farming.
This doesn’t even take into account Trump’s ongoing actions to turn the federal government into his own personal authoritarian tool. He has used the government to try to censor his critics, bully independent thought on campuses, and prosecute political opposition.
No wonder millions took to the streets over the weekend to participate in the nationwide “No Kings” protests. And with economic conditions worsening, the protests surely won’t stop anytime soon.
