Is the Working Class Finally Turning on Trump?
Key takeaways
- Such surveys have alarmed some Republican strategists.
- The LedeReporting and commentary on what you need to know today.
- A sign along Route 611 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, makes an appeal for Trump and signals exasperation with inflation, in November, 2024.Are things different now?
A pickup truck with a Trump flag over its tailgate passes through Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, in November, 2024.Photographs by Jonno Rattman Save this story Save this story Save this story Save this story 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. Union leaders decried these developments, but many rank-and-file workers were more forgiving, continuing to place Trump signs on their lawns and to show up at his rallies wearing MAGA hats.
The LedeReporting and commentary on what you need to know today.