Latest news with #JasonLange
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's approval rating ticks lower, economic concerns weigh, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's approval rating ticked slightly lower this week to 42%, matching the lowest level of his new term as Americans kept a dour view of his handling of the U.S. economy, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The results of the three-day poll, which concluded on Sunday, showed a marginal dip from a week earlier when a Reuters/Ipsos survey showed 44% of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing as president. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. While low by historical standards, Trump's popularity remains higher than it was for much of his first term as president and is also stronger than what his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden had during the second half of his 2021-2025 term. Trump's high point remains his 47% rating in the hours after his return to the White House in January. His approval has shown little movement in recent weeks. Just 39% of respondents in the poll said Trump was doing a good job managing the U.S. economy, unchanged from a week earlier. Trump won the 2024 presidential election on a promise to bring about a golden age for the U.S. economy, but his aggressive measures to reshape global commerce - including levying heavy tariffs on major trading partners - have increased the risks of recession, economists say. Inflation rates in the United States soared under Biden but have been trending lower for several years. Some 33% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll gave Trump a thumbs up on how he was managing the cost of living, up from 31% a week earlier. Many economists, however, expect inflation will heat back up as tariffs put pressure on the profits of importers. Trump on Saturday urged Walmart, the world's largest retailer, to "eat the tariffs" instead of blaming them for the retailer's increased prices. He has urged the country's independent central bank, the Federal Reserve, to lower interest rates, but central bankers have also expressed worry over the prospects of higher inflation. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, carried out online and nationwide, surveyed 1,024 U.S. adults May 16-18.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Americans worry about Trump's handling of current measles outbreak, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
By Jason Lange and Julie Steenhuysen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans worry about President Donald Trump's administration's ability to contain an ongoing outbreak of measles, while the vast majority of them believe that vaccines for the disease are safe, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Just 31% of respondents in the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the current administration is handling the measles outbreak responsibly, while 40% disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question. The U.S. is currently facing its largest single outbreak of measles in 25 years, with the number of cases crossing the 1,000 mark last week. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine prevents 97% of cases after two doses and high adoption of the MMR vaccine resulted in the disease being declared eliminated in 2000 by the World Health Organization. Nonetheless, vaccination rates among U.S. children have fallen in recent years, which experts attribute to vaccine skepticism and misinformation. The vast majority of Americans still see the MMR vaccine as safe. Some 86% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said it was safe for children, a marginally higher share than the 84% who said the same in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May 2020, in the early months of the COVID pandemic. Some 13% of respondents in the latest poll said the vaccine was not safe for kids, up marginally from 10% five years earlier. The latest poll, which surveyed 1,163 U.S. adults nationwide, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Infectious disease experts worry that comments from vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services who has offered mixed messages about the severity of the disease and the safety and efficacy of vaccine, may further exacerbate vaccine hesitancy. Dr. Sean O'Leary, chair of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said he was encouraged by the high level of confidence in the MMR vaccine given the messaging from the Trump administration. "I do feel a bit better knowing that the public is recognizing that a lot of the information they're seeing right now from the administration is not accurate," O'Leary said. Kennedy, who became the nation's top health official in February, says he is not opposed to vaccines, which he says are the best way to prevent measles. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DUTY TO VACCINATE CHILDREN Some 76% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll - including majorities of both Republicans and Democrats - agreed with a statement that it was the duty of all parents to vaccinate their children against measles. One in four Republicans, however, disagreed. Vaccination rates have been declining in the U.S. In the 2019-2020 school year, 95.2% of kindergarteners nationwide completed their two-dose MMR vaccine series, above the 95% threshold needed to protect unvaccinated individuals against the highly contagious disease through herd immunity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles vaccination rates dropped to 92.7% in 2023-2024, according to the CDC. Within states, pockets of unvaccinated populations have even lower vaccination rates. In Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of an outbreak that has infected more than 700 people and killed two unvaccinated children, only 82% of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated. The Texas outbreak has spread to Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, where one adult died from the disease. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said most Americans are comfortable with the MMR vaccine, which is reflected in high vaccination rates. The problem, he said, is that national vaccination numbers can mask pockets of very low vaccination coverage. "You really have to look at these pockets," Adalja said. "That's what makes us very vulnerable." Some 55% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were concerned about measles outbreaks - on par with the number who worried about being laid off from their jobs and well below the 80% who worried about rising inflation. Just 32% of respondents in the poll said they thought the current administration would stop the current outbreak and prevent measles from becoming a common illness again.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's approval steady, concerns over economy, immigration rise, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's approval rating held steady this week, but discontent is rising over his handling of the economy and hardline approach to immigration, amid concern about a global trade war and a push to increase deportations, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The three-day poll completed on Sunday showed 42% of respondents approved of the Republican leader's performance in office, unchanged from a prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted a week earlier. The share of people who disapprove of his presidency was also steady at 53%. The share of respondents who approve of Trump's economic stewardship declined a percentage point to 36%, the lowest level in his current term or in his 2017-2021 presidency, while disapproval rose 5 points to 56%. Fears of a recession have surged in recent weeks as Trump has launched a global trade war, hiking tariffs so high that economists warn that trade with some countries - notably China - could grind nearly to a halt. The moves have shaken investors and companies. On Tuesday, for example, delivery giant United Parcel Service said it would cut 20,000 jobs. Inflation continued to be a sore spot. Trump's victory in the November presidential election came after inflation accelerated under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. But the pace of inflation has barely eased under Trump and 59% of respondents to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll disapproved of his handling of the cost of living in America, compared with 32% who approved. Trump gets higher marks on his performance on immigration than on any other issue Reuters/Ipsos polled on, with 45% of respondents approving his handling of it, steady with the prior finding. But discontent also grew here, with his disapproval rating on the topic ticking 2 points higher to 48%. Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking office on January 20, sending troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Democrats and civil rights advocates have criticized Trump's heightened enforcement tactics, including the cases of several children who are U.S. citizens who were recently deported with their parents. One of the children has a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Some 11% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said immigration was the most important problem facing the United States, compared to 14% in late January. The share who said the economy was the top concern in the latest poll was little changed at 22%. The share who said the biggest problem was political extremism and threats to democracy stood at 26%, up from 20% in late January. The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,029 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Americans sour on Trump's handling of the economy, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans elected President Donald Trump in hopes that he would fight inflation and boost the U.S. economy, but as he approaches his 100th day in office they are giving the Republican poor marks for his handling of both, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. Trump has kicked off his term with an aggressive economic agenda, sparking trade wars as he slaps tariffs on major U.S. trading partners, trying to pressure the Federal Reserve to bend to his will and setting off the worst selloff in U.S. financial markets since the early months of the COVID pandemic five years ago. Just 37% of respondents to the six-day poll that concluded on Monday approve of Trump's handling of the economy, down from 42% in the hours after his January 20 inauguration, when he promised to supercharge the economy and bring about a "Golden Age of America." The reading is well below than at any point in his first term, when it ranged from the mid-40's to mid-50's. "You have a president who promised a golden age," said James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "But everything that's supposed to be up is down, everything that's supposed to be down is up." Pethokoukis said the economic warning signs put pressure on Trump to reverse course on tariffs, but that even if Trump caved the economy might not quickly bounce back amid the chaos. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted just after Trump's inauguration, some 55% of respondents said either inflation or the broader economy should be Trump's main focus in his first 100 days in office, which run through April 30. Twenty-three percent picked immigration. Three months later, three-quarters of the respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said they worried a recession was coming. Fifty-six percent of respondents, including one in four Republicans, said Trump's moves to shake up the economy are "too erratic." MARKET WORRIES Two thirds of respondents were concerned about the stock market, where share prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks amid investor worries over Trump's plans to hike tariffs on imported goods and his intimation he could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the nation's top official tasked with controlling inflation. The benchmark S&P 500 stock index is about 14% below its previous high reached on February 19. Consumer prices rose 2.5% in the year through February, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they agreed with a statement that "Trump's actions could make it harder for me to live comfortably when I retire," outnumbering the 31% who disagreed with the statement. Trump on Monday warned that the economy could slow if the Federal Reserve doesn't lower interest rates, saying the nation was on a path where "there can be almost no inflation." But Powell, like Wall Street economists, has said that Trump's moves to raise tariffs - including a new 145% tax rate on most Chinese imports - could push inflation higher at least in the short term, and possibly for longer. Banking giant JP Morgan expects a recession this year, largely due to Trump's tariff policy which has led other countries to put heavy levies on U.S. exports. To be sure, a large swath of America still backs Trump, many fervently. His overall approval rating - at 42% - remains higher than his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden enjoyed for much his term, and has been buoyed by a somewhat larger share of Americans - 45% - who back Trump's hardline actions on immigration. The president's party also remains firmly behind him, with 81% of self-identified Republicans approving of Trump's economic stewardship, compared to 5% of Democrats and 28% of people outside the two parties. Many Americans are sympathetic to his view that the U.S. has gotten a raw deal in global affairs generally, including in trade and in defense. Forty-eight percent of respondents agreed with a statement that "most other countries, including America's traditional allies, take advantage of the U.S." Thirty-four percent disagreed. But even one in three Republicans said their cost of living was on the wrong track, according to the poll, which surveyed 4,306 U.S. adults nationwide between April 16 and April 21. The poll had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points. Three-quarters of respondents, including two-thirds of Republicans, said they were concerned about the reliability of the Social Security system, which has been a focus of a Trump administration push to shrink the federal government that has been led by the world's richest man, Elon Musk. To be sure, many dire warning signs on the economy have been from surveys of businesses or from leading economists, while measures of the labor market remain healthier, with the jobless rate in March only ticking slightly higher to 4.2%. "There's a big risk for Trump that it's only going to get worse from here," said Scott Lincicome, a trade and economics expert at the CATO institute, a libertarian think tank.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump approval rating dips; many wary of his wielding of power, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's public approval rating edged down to its lowest level since his return to the White House, as Americans showed signs of wariness over his efforts to broaden his power, a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday found. Some 42% of respondents to the six-day poll approved of Trump's performance as president, down from 43% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted three weeks earlier, and from 47% in the hours after his January 20 inauguration. The start of Trump's term has left his political opponents stunned as he has signed dozens of executive orders expanding his influence over both government departments and over private institutions such as universities and law firms. While Trump's approval rating remains higher than the ratings seen during most of his Democratic predecessor's presidency, the results of the Reuters/Ipsos poll suggest many Americans are uncomfortable with his moves to punish universities he sees as too liberal and to install himself as the board chair of the Kennedy Center, a major theater and cultural institution in Washington. Some 83% of the 4,306 respondents said that the U.S. president must obey federal court rulings even if he doesn't want to. Trump administration officials could face criminal contempt charges for violating a federal judge's order halting deportations of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang who had no chance to challenge their removals. Fifty-seven percent - including one-third of Republicans - disagreed with the statement that "it's okay for a U.S. president to withhold funding from universities if the president doesn't agree with how the university is run." Trump, who has argued universities are failing to fight antisemitism on campus, has frozen vast sums of federal money budgeted for U.S. universities, including more than $2 billion for Harvard University alone. A similar share of respondents - 66% - said they did not think the president should be in control of premier cultural institutions such as national museums and theaters. Trump last month ordered the Smithsonian Institution, the vast museum and research complex that is a premier exhibition space for U.S. history and culture, to remove "improper" ideology. On a range of issues, from inflation and immigration to taxation and rule of law, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that Americans who disapproved of Trump's performance outnumbered those who approved on every issue in the poll. On immigration, his strongest area of support, 45% of respondents approved of Trump's performance but 46% disapproved. The poll had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points. Some 59% of respondents - including a third of Republicans - said America was losing credibility on the global stage. Three-quarters of respondents said Trump should not run for a third term in office -- a path Trump has said he would like to pursue, though the U.S. Constitution bars him from doing so. A majority of Republican respondents -- 53% -- said Trump should not seek a third term.
