President Trump’s focus on imposing tariffs for a wide swath of imports is proving to be unpopular with a majority of America — who say he should be focused instead on lowering everyday prices, according to a new poll.
Despite voter unease about the tariff push, Trump’s overall approval rating is sitting at 50%, with high support for his immigration crackdown, according to a CBS/YouGov poll.
It also appears he has some wiggle room, because voters are still putting most of the blame for inflation on former President Joe Biden.
However, 55% percent of Americans felt that Trump was focusing too much on tariffs, compared to 38% who agree with his attention of taxing imports, the poll suggested.
By contrast, 64% of poll respondents said he’s not focusing enough on lowering prices — compared to 31% who thought he was doing enough on the issue.
Additionally, a majority of Americans (52%) no longer approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to the poll — an issue where he has previously dominated.
Earlier this month, an NBC News poll similarly found that most Americans disapprove of Trump’s economic policies — the first time that’s happened in that survey.
While inflation has cooled down significantly since 2022, overall prices are up more than 23% over their pre-pandemic levels.
Core inflation last month was hotter than analysts expected, clocking in at 2.8% year-over-year for February. Prices were up 0.4% from a month earlier.
Those findings come on the heels of a higher-than-expected inflation report in January, as well.
Still, Trump has bragged about how he’s overseen a decrease in the price of eggs, which had soared in January due to the bird flu. Prices on dipped to $3 a dozen last week, according to US Department of Agriculture data.
Trump had pledged to tackle soaring prices on eggs during his address to the joint session of Congress earlier this month.
At the same time, Trump has been tapping into emergency presidential powers to slap broad tariffs against the three largest US trading partners in an effort to increase domestic manufacturing.
This includes 25% across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico — for which he’s enacted several one-month carveouts — and a 20% tariff on China.
Last week, he announced a 25% tariff on all foreign-made cars and parts, something that analysts warn could increase the prices of new vehicles by up to $10,000 a piece in the short term.
Trump is also set to unveil additional tariffs on April 2 as part of his so-called “Liberation Day” of slapping “reciprocal” duties on imports to protect American manufacturers.
The president has characterized his tariff play as short-term pain for long-term gain and argued the protectionist policies will bring back critical industry.
Critics argue that tariffs will cause prices on key products to surge and risk igniting a trade war of retaliatory measures on international commerce.
Still, a plurality — 38% — believe Biden is mostly to blame for elevated prices, while 34% blame Trump more and 19% fault the pair equally, according to the CBS poll.
One area where Trump enjoys high favorability with Americans is the border.
US adults approve of his immigration policies 53% to 47% immigration — compared to the 48% to 52% approval rating he scored on the economy and 44% to 56% inflation, per the CBS poll.
Trump had campaigned heavily on cracking down on illegal immigration and has taken aggressive measures to crack down on transitional criminal organizations such as invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan gang members to a notorious El Salvadorian prison.
Illegal border crossings have also fallen to levels not seen in decades.
There were 29,000 encounters with illegal immigrations near the border recorded in February, compared to 256,000 during February of 2024, per US Customs and Border Patrol Control data.
Broadly speaking, 58% of Americans approved of Trump’s deportation policies compared to 42% who disapprove, the poll found.
The CBS/YouGov poll sampled 2,609 US adults on March 27 and 28, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
