8 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump on inflation. That’s extremely rare for a president

We don’t yet know how the 2026 midterm elections will shake out.

What we can say right now is that President Donald Trump’s handling of inflation is a historic liability — the likes of which we’ve rarely seen in modern American politics.

As many as 8 in 10 Americans now disapprove of Trump on that issue. That’s more than disapproved of presidents for wars gone wrong, botched crisis responses and even major scandals like Watergate.

A new AP-NORC poll on Thursday was the latest ugly data point for Trump. It showed Americans disapproved of him on cost-of-living issues by a stunning margin: 82% to 17%.

It’s rare to get even 70% of Americans to agree on anything political. But Trump has managed to unite 8 in 10 Americans against his handling of one of the country’s most important issues.

And this poll isn’t just some outlier. Here’s a brief recap of recent polls on this issue:

Three recent polls have shown Trump’s approval rating on this dropping into the teens — AP-NORC (17%), Reuters-Ipsos ( 17% ) and Marquette Law School ( 19% ).

Three have also shown at least 80% disapprove — AP-NORC (82%), Marquette (80%) and a CNN poll ( 80% ).

The AP-NORC, Reuters-Ipsos, Marquette Law School and CNN poll all show at least 50% of Republicans disapproved.

29% of self-described MAGA Republicans disapproved, according to a Fox News poll .

43% of people who otherwise said they approved of Trump disapproved of him on inflation, per the CNN poll.

Between 63% and 72% of White people without college degrees disapproved in these polls, despite that being perhaps Trump’s signature demographic.

The level of disapproval on such a major issue has few precedents, though George W. Bush did face a 77% disapproval rating in a CBS News/New York Times poll for his handling of the economy near the end of his term after the 2008 financial crisis. In 1980, the same pollster showed Jimmy Carter’s disapproval on that issue peaking at 74% amid high unemployment and inflation.

One of the likeliest culprits for such high disapproval numbers would seem to be war. And those have been very unpopular. But not as unpopular as Trump’s handling of the cost of living. George W. Bush’s disapproval rating on the Iraq war peaked around 70% . Disapproval of Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan peaked around two-thirds . And the Vietnam war led Lyndon Johnson to scrap his reelection bid in 1968, but his disapproval rating on the issue was only in the 60s .

In fact, the highest disapproval rating for a war appears to be Trump’s latest numbers on the Iran war. The CNN poll showed 73% disapproved of his handling of that.

When it comes to crises, as many as 64% disapproved of Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, and Carter’s disapproval amid the Iran hostage crisis climbed into the mid-50s. Even Trump’s handling of the January 6 attack on the Capitol ( 67% in CNN polling ) wasn’t as lopsided as Trump and inflation right now.

As far as scandals, Ronald Reagan’s disapproval on the Iran-Contra affair reached as high as 69% in a January 1987 Washington Post-ABC News poll. And at the height of Watergate, as many as 71% of Americans disapproved of Richard Nixon on domestic issues. (We don’t have good approval polling from back then on Watergate, specifically.)

Speaking of Nixon, pardons have also tested Americans’ tolerance. But even Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon — which was supposed to have crippled Ford politically — only saw a disapproval rating in the 50s , according to polls compiled by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.

Indeed, about the closest Trump got previously to 80% disapproval on a major issue was another controversial set of pardons: his pardons of violent January 6 defendants last year. A Pew Research Center poll showed 74% of Americans disapproved of that.

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You might be noticing a trend here. Many of the issues with the highest presidential disapproval ratings involve the same president: Trump. That includes the Iran war, the January 6 Capitol attack and the related pardons. But the disapproval he faces on inflation surpasses all of those issues.

You could perhaps understand why Republicans are suddenly anxious to pass legislation on affordability before the election.

Trump in a new Time magazine interview published Thursday said Americans shouldn’t hold him responsible for their affordability problems and again blamed inflation on Biden. (This despite inflation being higher today than it was when Trump took over last year.)

But the AP-NORC poll is the latest to suggest that strategy won’t work. It shows 65% of Americans blamed Trump’s policies for high prices more so than factors beyond his control. That number for Biden just before the 2022 midterm elections was much lower: 44% .

Perhaps Trump’s party can still do OK in the upcoming midterms. But if it does, it will be despite historic dissatisfaction with the president on voters’ clear No. 1 issue.

我们目前还不知道2026年中期选举的结果会如何。

我们现在可以肯定的是，唐纳德·特朗普总统对通货膨胀的处理方式是一个历史性的缺陷——这种缺陷在现代美国政治中很少见到。

现在，多达80%的美国人对特朗普在这个问题上的做法表示不满。这一比例甚至超过了对那些因战争失策、危机应对不力，甚至是像水门事件这样的重大丑闻而受到批评的总统。

周四公布的AP-NORC民调显示，特朗普的支持率再次遭遇重创。民调显示，美国民众在生活成本问题上对他极度不满，支持率仅为17%，比例高达82%。

让70%的美国人在任何政治问题上达成一致都实属罕见。但特朗普却成功地让十分之八的美国人团结起来，反对他对国家最重要问题之一的处理方式。

而且，这项民调结果并非个例。以下简要回顾近期关于此问题的民调：

最近三项民调显示，特朗普在这方面的支持率已降至十几——AP-NORC（17%）、路透社-益普索（17%）和马凯特大学法学院（19%）。

另有三项民调显示至少 80% 的人不赞成——AP-NORC（82%）、马凯特大学（80%）和 CNN 民调（80%）。

美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心、路透社-益普索、马凯特大学法学院和CNN的民调均显示，至少有50%的共和党人表示不赞成。

根据福克斯新闻的民意调查，29%的自称MAGA共和党人表示不赞成。

根据 CNN 民调，在其他方面表示支持特朗普的人中，有 43% 的人在通货膨胀问题上不赞成他。

尽管白人中没有大学学历的人可能是特朗普的标志性支持者群体，但在这些民意调查中，有 63% 到 72% 的人表示不赞成。

在如此重大的问题上出现如此高的反对率实属罕见，尽管乔治·W·布什在2008年金融危机后任期末期，也曾因其经济政策处理不当而面临哥伦比亚广播公司新闻/纽约时报民调77%的反对率。1980年，同一民调机构的数据显示，吉米·卡特在高失业率和高通胀时期，也曾因经济政策问题而遭遇74%的反对率。

造成如此高支持率的罪魁祸首之一似乎是战争。而战争确实一直不得人心。但远不及特朗普对生活成本的处理方式那样不受欢迎。乔治·W·布什对伊拉克战争的支持率一度跌至70%左右。乔·拜登从阿富汗撤军的支持率也一度跌至三分之二左右。而越南战争导致林登·约翰逊在1968年放弃了连任竞选，但他在这个问题上的支持率也只有60%左右。

事实上，在所有战争中，特朗普对伊朗战争的支持率似乎最低。CNN的民调显示，73%的受访者不认可他对伊朗战争的处理方式。

在危机应对方面，高达64%的人不认可布什对卡特里娜飓风的处理方式，而卡特在伊朗人质危机中的不认可率也攀升至50%以上。即使是特朗普对1月6日国会大厦袭击事件的处理（CNN民调显示为67%），也不像目前特朗普与通货膨胀问题之间的矛盾那样悬殊。

就丑闻而言，1987年1月《华盛顿邮报》和美国广播公司新闻频道联合进行的一项民意调查显示，罗纳德·里根在伊朗门事件上的不认可率高达69%。而在水门事件最严重的时候，多达71%的美国人对理查德·尼克松在国内问题上的处理方式表示不满。（我们没有当时关于水门事件的具体民意调查数据。）

说到尼克松，赦免也考验了美国人的容忍度。但即使是杰拉尔德·福特赦免尼克松——原本应该在政治上重创福特——根据罗珀公共舆论研究中心汇编的民意调查，其反对率也只有50%左右。

事实上，此前特朗普在重大议题上支持率最接近80%的一次，是另一项备受争议的赦免：去年他赦免了1月6日暴力犯罪案的被告。皮尤研究中心的一项民调显示，74%的美国人对此表示反对。

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你可能已经注意到一个趋势。许多导致总统支持率最低的问题都与同一位总统有关：特朗普。这包括伊朗战争、1月6日国会大厦袭击事件以及相关的赦免。但他在通货膨胀问题上面临的反对声浪超过了所有这些问题。

你或许可以理解为什么共和党人突然急于在大选前通过有关住房负担能力的立法。

特朗普在周四发表于《时代》杂志的一篇新采访中表示，美国民众不应该让他为他们的消费负担能力问题负责，并再次将通货膨胀归咎于拜登。（尽管目前的通货膨胀率高于特朗普去年上任时的水平。）

但美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心的最新民调表明，这种策略行不通。民调显示，65%的美国人认为高物价更多是特朗普的政策造成的，而不是他无法控制的因素。而在2022年中期选举前，拜登的这一比例要低得多，仅为44%。

或许特朗普所在的政党在即将到来的中期选举中还能取得不错的成绩。但即便如此，也是在选民对总统在最关心的问题上表现出前所未有的不满的情况下实现的。