{"id":15062,"date":"2026-02-25T12:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15062"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:54:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:54:52","slug":"trumps-economic-moves-risk-eroding-gops-working-class-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15062","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s economic moves risk eroding GOP\u2019s working class support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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President Trump\u2019s economic moves risk alienating even some of his party\u2019s core voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is heading into his State of the Union on Tuesday with dismal approval ratings that show a reversal of 2024 gains among independents, young voters and Latinos. Now, new polling signals a possible slip in support from the white working class, or white voters without college degrees \u2014 a bloc that made up more than half of Trump\u2019s coalition in each of his three White House bids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though working class voters are the cornerstone of Trump\u2019s base, enduring concerns about the economy and cost-of-living issues could signal trouble for Republicans heading into this fall\u2019s high-stakes midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Republicans in general have given up ground, they\u2019re no longer nine or 10-point favorites to handle the economy,\u201d said Scott Tranter, director of data science for Decision Desk HQ. \u201cPeople are most worried about the economy and affordability. That generally doesn\u2019t bode well for the party in power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow does that translate to the working class?\u201d he added. \u201cLook, if the general voter has a problem with [being] worried about keeping their job or paying for that vacation, that mostly hurts the working class vote. And we\u2019ll see how that plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s overall approval rating was roughly 15 points underwater ahead of his first State of the Union of his second term, according to DDHQ\u2019s polling aggregate \u2014 about the biggest gulf he\u2019s logged since returning to the Oval Office. Approximately 42 percent approve of his presidency, while 56 percent disapprove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His disapproval numbers among independent, African American and Hispanic voters have also climbed since his last address to Congress, by roughly 10 points, 11 points and 16 points, respectively, according to DDHQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main drag on Trump\u2019s polling is the economy, which remains perhaps the biggest issue for voters in the midterms. Trump campaigned on promises to lower prices, but, a year into his second term, persistent inflation, sweeping tariffs and high cost-of-living have made the economy a political liability for the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual inflation rate of 2.4 percent in January was down from a peak of 3 percent in September, but only slightly lower than the 2.7 percent annual rate during Trump\u2019s election in November 2024. The unemployment rate also rose from 4 percent in January 2025 to 4.3 percent as of last month, and the economy added just 181,000 jobs in total last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disapproval of Trump\u2019s economic handling hit a new high in a recent NPR\/PBS News\/Marist poll. Nearly 60 percent of respondents, including 65 percent of independents, to a February Washington Post\/ABC News\/Ipsos survey disapproved of the president\u2019s handling of the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And nearly half of respondents in a Scripps News\/Talker Research poll on Monday said they were most interested in hearing Trump talk about the economy in his Tuesday address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president is expected to tout his economic gains in his State of the Union speech and highlight early signs of relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, to make matters worse ahead of the 2026 elections, there are also signs of a downtick in support from the white working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook Political Report\u2019s poll tracker of white, non-college voters shows Trump tumbled from a 13-point net approval at this point last year to a slim 3.5-point edge as of Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from the polling firm Cygnal this month also showed Trump losing ground with non-college Americans, highlighting \u201cvulnerabilities for Republicans among core Trump base segments, particularly working-class and older men,\u201d according to a report from the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts underscored that the working class population is not a monolith, and different analysts may draw contrasting lines dividing the bloc. They stressed that there isn\u2019t enough data to suggest a major erosion, but noted recent numbers as the latest sign that voters are souring on the Trump administration as a competitive midterm year ramps up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been slippage. It\u2019s not something you would call evaporating support, and that remains certainly his strongest group, \u2026 they remain his most loyal base,\u201d said Charles Franklin, the director of the Marquette Law School Poll in Wisconsin, of white blue-collar voters. \u201cBut he does not want to see it slip with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats once had the advantage over Republicans among noncollege voters overall, but they\u2019ve trended Republican in recent elections. As of 2024, white noncollege voters associated with Republicans by nearly two-to-one, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we were to just rewind the tape, before 2016, the uneducated white voter by and large would have voted Democratic,\u201d said nonpartisan pollster Brett Loyd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if, on an election year like this, when they\u2019re looking to their union [representatives] and the people in their offices, and if they\u2019re hurt by this back-and-forth tariff stuff, if they\u2019re hurt with the economy, if their pocketbooks are hurting, and their union says this \u2026 they\u2019re not talking about Trump,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Trump won\u2019t be on the ballot in the midterms. And though he\u2019s still set to be heavily involved via endorsements and stops in key states, it remains to be seen how frustration with him \u2014 among working class voters or otherwise \u2014 will affect the GOP in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, Trump has traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, touting his agenda, dismissing affordability as a Democratic \u201choax,\u201d and casting blame on his predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for voters pinching pennies at the grocery store and gas pump, it may be hard to believe any broader economic benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemember that a lot of people without college degrees, who were Trump\u2019s education base, don\u2019t own stocks. Trump\u2019s always talking about the stock market hitting new highs and doing so well and the investment community and 401ks and all of that,\u201d said David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe average person, especially the average person without a college education, has a lower probability of owning stocks, so they\u2019re feeling like they\u2019re falling behind in the Trump economy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, just because voters are frustrated with Trump and Republicans\u2019 economic moves, it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll flock to vote for Democrats this Novemeber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a team fumbles and you get the ball, you don\u2019t actually score until you do something with it,\u201d said Loyd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s approval [ratings] \u2014 they\u2019re low. They\u2019re bad. They\u2019re really bad among independents. They\u2019re bad among his younger males that kind of helped him get into office. They\u2019re bad among the middle class. They\u2019re deteriorating,\u201d Loyd said. \u201cMy biggest point, though, is: what are Democrats doing about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats are also struggling with poor numbers for the party brand as they search for a new standard-bearer ahead of 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party, though, has a 6-point advantage on a generic congressional ballot for 2026, according to DDHQ averages, as it seeks to capitalize on off-year election momentum and the frustration with Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still a fragmented segment of the population. \u2026 Those subsets in a poll can be very small, but I do agree \u2026 that there has been a bit of a pullback in the margin that Trump had in 2024 among working class people,\u201d said Paleologos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is \u2026 does that trend continue so that it becomes a tipping point in the midterm elections, or does it bottom out in reverse itself?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump\u2019s economic moves risk alienating even some of his party\u2019s core voters. Trump is heading into his State of the Union on Tuesday with dismal approval ratings that show a reversal of 2024 gains among independents, young voters and Latinos. Now, new polling signals a possible slip in support from the white working class, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-15062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s economic moves risk eroding GOP\u2019s working class support - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15062\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s economic moves risk eroding GOP\u2019s working class support - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump\u2019s economic moves risk alienating even some of his party\u2019s core voters. 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