New poll flashes warning sign on a top issue for Trump during campaign

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Trump takes the driver's seat in Telsa in show of support for Elon Musk

President Donald Trump hops in the driver’s seat of a Tesla car in a show of support for Elon Musk while taking questions from the press.

President Donald Trump is pushing back against talk of a recession.

"I don't see it at all. I think this country is going to boom," the president told reporters on Tuesday as he inspected a Tesla electric vehicle that was parked on the South Lawn of the White House, courtesy of top Trump adviser Elon Musk, the car company's billionaire CEO.

However, when it comes to the economy - the issue that more than any other arguably boosted Trump back into the White House in last November's presidential election - Americans do not seem so pleased with the job he is doing.

Trump stands at 44% approval and 56% disapproval for the job he is doing steering the economy, in a CNN national poll conducted March 6-9 by SSRS and released on Wednesday. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S POLLING POSITION 50 DAYS INTO HIS SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN THE WHITE HOUSE

President Donald Trump, right, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to reporters near a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Pool via AP?)

The president was also underwater on the economy by 10 points in a Reuters/Ipsos survey in the field March 3-4.

While a handful of national polls indicate Trump above water on the economy, most recent surveys put him in negative territory when it comes to the top issue on the minds of Americans.

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When it comes to his overall approval rating, Trump has seen his numbers edge down slightly since returning to the White House in late January, when an average of his polls indicated the president's approval rating in the low 50s and his disapproval in the mid 40s. An average of the latest surveys indicates he is hovering slightly above water.

While Americans are split on Trump's performance, the approval ratings for his second term are an improvement from his first tour of duty, when he started 2017 in negative territory and remained underwater throughout his four-year tenure in the White House.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Business Roundtable quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Pool via AP)

However, when it comes specifically to his handling of the economy, CNN's latest numbers are below where he stood at any point in their polling during his first term in office.

The president's rapidly shifting tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico - America's neighbors and top trading partners - have rattled the financial markets and raised concerns of further inflation and a possible recession.

FOX BUSINESS: WHY INFLATION SLOWED LAST MONTH

When asked on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" by host Maria Bartiromo whether he expected there would be a recession this year, the president responded, "I hate to predict things like that."

"There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big," Trump said as he referred to his agenda, which includes tariffs. 

"It takes a little time," Trump said before predicting that his economic agenda "should be great for us."

While aking questions Tuesday amid another down day for the nation's financial markets, Trump said "You're going to have drops and markets are going to go up and they're gonna go down."

Trump's predecessor in the White House, former President Joe Biden, was dogged by inflation during his tenure.

Biden's approval rating hovered in the low-to-mid-50s during the first six months of his single term as president, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to the low- to-mid-40s. 

Then-President Joe Biden speaks about his administration on Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

However, Biden's numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan, a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation's southern border with Mexico, and amid soaring inflation.

Biden's approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency, as high prices for goods remained a top concern on the minds of American voters.

"He just got crippled and never recovered," said Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News Poll.

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Trump received some good inflation news on Wednesday, with the consumer price index coming in at a lower-than-expected level last month, according to a new government report.

The White House communications shop spotlighted the news in an email release titled "Inflation Eases as Job Creation Soars and Border Security Pays Off."

However, Shaw emphasized that inflation remains critical to Trump's political fortunes.

"If prices remain high, he’s going to have trouble," Shaw warned.