“Working families are seeing their grocery bills and other prices skyrocketing thanks to President Trump’s erratic trade policies, and they know full well who is to blame,” said one critic.

Amid rising consumer prices and inflation likely to increase due to President Donald Trump’s mercurial tariffs, a poll published on 13 May showed a majority of surveyed voters disapprove of the US leader’s fiscal stewardship and blame him for the nation’s economic woes.

Groundwork Collaborative and Data for Progress  surveyed 1213 likely US voters, 55% of whom said they somewhat, or strongly, disapprove of the way Trump is handling rising prices. That figure soared to 90% among Democratic respondents, while 79% of Republicans said they approve of the president’s leadership on the issue.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, including 96% of Democrats, 73% of Independents, and 31% of Republicans, said they blame Trump for current inflation levels.

“Prices are on the rise, and so are Americans’ doubts in President Trump’s ability to do anything about it.”

A majority of respondents also indicated concern over the rising cost of groceries, clothing, electronics, furniture and home goods, and new automobiles.

On 13 May, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the pace of inflation eased slightly in April to 2.3%, down from 2.4% in March. Meanwhile, the bureau’s consumer price index — which measures the average change over time for the cost of a basket of staple goods — inched up 0.2% on a seasonably adjusted basis in April.

“Prices are on the rise, and so are Americans’ doubts in President Trump’s ability to do anything about it,” Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said. “Working families are seeing their grocery bills and other prices skyrocketing thanks to President Trump’s erratic trade policies, and they know full well who is to blame.

“Instead of working to bring down costs, Trump and his allies in Congress are doing exactly the opposite: slashing the safety net and asking working families to shoulder the burden to pay for a massive tax handout to billionaires and corporations.”

Experts warned of even higher consumer prices in the near future as the effects of Trump’s tariffs take hold. Some of his taxes on imports are active, while others are being negotiated.

“There isn’t a lot of evidence of tariffs boosting the CPI in April, but this shouldn’t be surprising as it takes time,”  said Ryan Sweet, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics.

Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, said in a note to investors that “inflation numbers will now be further whipsawed by the US/China trade truce announcement”.

The new survey also comes as House Republicans push a bill that would  dramatically slash spending on vital social programs in order to pay for a massive tax cut that would overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the wealthiest households. Former Democratic US labor secretary Robert Reich slammed the proposal as “trickle-down economics on steroids”.

A  separate survey, conducted by Harris and published on 12 May by The Guardian, showed that Americans are reconsidering major events like marriage, having children, and buying a home amid rising economic anxiety stoked by Trump’s policies.

Republished from COMMON DREAMS, 13 May 2025