Is the Working Class Finally Turning on Trump?

Donald Trump said his policies to fight inflation are working and that the country is approaching a golden age. Tariffs are broadly unpopular, and a decision to go to war with Iran has contributed to disruptions in global shipping after the Strait of Hormuz was closed. Oil prices rose above $100 a barrel, and higher gas prices have strained household budgets. An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found 81% of respondents reported strain from higher gas prices, and 63% of those blamed Trump. A CNN poll found three-fourths of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, said Trump’s policies increased the cost of living. Some Republican strategists are alarmed, but Trump appears unconcerned about affordability when negotiating with Iran.

"In a recent exchange with reporters, Donald Trump insisted that his policies to fight inflation are working "incredibly," and that America is on the cusp of a "golden age." This sunny appraisal is not widely shared. Trump's tariffs are broadly unpopular. So is his decision to go to war with Iran, particularly as the ripple effects of Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global shipping and caused the price of oil to soar above a hundred dollars a barrel, have spread to American shores."

"In an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll published in early May, eighty-one per cent of respondents said that higher gas prices were straining their household budgets. Sixty-three per cent of those feeling the strain blamed the problem on Trump. In another recent poll, carried out by CNN, three-fourths of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, said that Trump's policies have increased the cost of living in their communities."

"Such surveys have alarmed some Republican strategists. But they do not appear to be troubling Trump, who, when asked recently how much thought he gives to Americans' financial situations when negotiating with Iran, replied, "Not even a little bit"-a comment consistent with his view of the affordability crisis, which he dismissed last year as a Democratic "con job" and a "hoax.""

"These are the words of a President whose populist rhetoric has long been at odds with the substance of his policies and the concentration of billionaires in his Cabinet. They are also a reminder of how confident Trump remains that his supporters will stay loyal to him regardless of what he does, an assumption that until recently seemed warranted. During his first term, Trump passed tax cuts for the rich and appointed anti-union, management-side attorneys to run the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board."

Read at The New Yorker