Axios: Republicans sour on Trump economy


Axios AM
By Mike Allen · May 23, 2026
 Happy Saturday! It’s Memorial Day weekend, in remembrance of U.S. service members who died serving America.Smart Brevity™ count: 1,345 words … 5 mins. Thanks to Neal Rothschild for orchestrating. Edited by Katie Lewis.
 
 
1 big thing: Republicans sour on Trump economy
 
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

President Trump promised an economic golden age when he returned to office last year.

Instead, voters are in their crankiest mood in years about their financial outlook — and the pessimism is spreading even to Republicans, Axios’ Mike Zapler writes.

Why it matters: The growing GOP gloom could hardly come at a worse time for Trump and the party — less than six months out from a midterm that’s likely to turn on the economy. 

Trump’s approval rating has been dropping for months. But the University of Michigan’s May consumer sentiment survey released yesterday revealed something more striking: Republicans are beginning to lose confidence in the economy, too.

Republican and independent voters’ attitudes about the economy hit a low point in Trump’s second term, per the survey. Overall sentiment hit an all-time low, period.

Expectations that inflation will remain high shot up among everyone surveyed, but especially Republicans. The long-run inflation expectations for Republicans “are currently more than double their February 2025 reading on a monthly basis,” the Michigan survey found.A line chart that tracks the consumer sentiment index monthly from January 1978 to May 2026. The index ranges from 44.8 to 112. In the listed data points, it ranges from 83.7 in January 1978 to 95.7 in March 2002, then hits 44.8 in May 2026, an all-time low.Data: University of Michigan. Chart: Axios Visuals 

By the numbers: An AP/NORC poll out this week found that around 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy. That’s down from about 8 in 10 in February.

Gallup’s gauge of consumer economic confidence released yesterday found that Republicans’ economic outlook has dipped for the past four months, to the lowest level of Trump’s second term.

CBS News/YouGov poll this month told much the same story: Just 36% of Republicans said Trump’s policies were making them financially better off.Share this story.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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