WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns over everyday expenses played a role in President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election, but as his second term nears, many U.S. adults doubt his ability to reduce costs. Only around 2 in 10 Americans are highly confident that Trump will make progress in lowering the cost of groceries, housing, or health care this year, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Faith in Trump’s job creation abilities is slightly higher, with about 3 in 10 expressing high confidence in his progress on this front in 2025. However, a significant portion of his supporters lack confidence in his ability to quickly address the economic challenges faced by many households, despite his promises to lower prices.
While expectations are tempered, Republicans remain hopeful for Trump’s second term, with about 8 in 10 believing he will be a successful president. Democrats, on the other hand, express more negative views, though less pessimistic than in 2020, with about 8 in 10 viewing Trump’s second term unfavorably. Confidence in Trump’s handling of the economy remains low, with only about 3 in 10 Americans highly confident in his abilities.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, economic issues took center stage, with debates around inflation and Trump’s ability to address it. As Trump assumes office, the poll indicates that many Americans do not expect an immediate reduction in costs, including some of his supporters. Less than half of Republicans are very confident in Trump’s ability to lower food, housing, or health care costs, though about 6 in 10 have confidence in his job creation abilities. Confidence in Trump’s handling of the broader economic situation is also lacking, with only about one-third of Americans highly confident in his abilities in this area.
While Republicans have more faith in Trump’s economic abilities, expectations in other policy areas are not as high. Around one-third of Americans are very confident in his handling of immigration and national security, while a sizable portion express lesser confidence levels. Health care is a particular area of concern, with Americans being especially doubtful of Trump’s ability to address health care costs and the broader health care issue.
According to recent findings, only around 2 in 10 Americans express extreme or high confidence in President Trump’s ability to address healthcare issues, with a mere 16% feeling confident in his capacity to make advancements in reducing healthcare costs. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump indicated intentions to explore alternatives to the Affordable Care Act. However, he has not presented a definitive plan outlining specific changes to the existing healthcare legislation. Instead, much of his initial term was devoted to endeavors aimed at dismantling the Act, efforts which ultimately did not succeed.
Among Republican respondents, approximately half exhibit significant confidence in Trump’s competence in managing healthcare matters, while about one-third are at least very hopeful that he will succeed in lowering healthcare expenses. Interestingly, nearly half of Republicans are anticipating a ‘great’ second term from Trump.
Despite facing challenges, such as four indictments, a criminal conviction, and two assassination attempts, President Trump’s favorability rating has remained relatively stable. The most recent survey data demonstrates that public expectations for his upcoming term align with their evaluations of his initial four years in office. Just under half of U.S. adults anticipate that Trump will perform poorly or poorly in his second term, a sentiment largely unchanged from his departure from the White House in 2021.
However, Republicans appear to hold even higher hopes for Trump’s second term, while Democrats’ concerns seem somewhat subdued. Around half of Republicans anticipate that Trump will excel as president in his second term, compared to approximately 4 in 10 who held this view at the conclusion of his first term. On the other hand, the majority of Democrats continue to foresee a ‘terrible’ presidency for Trump, although this apprehension has slightly diminished. Roughly 6 in 10 Democrats anticipate that Trump will perform poorly in his second term, a decrease from the three-quarters who held this view at the end of his initial term.
The aforementioned insights were derived from the AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults conducted between January 9th and 13th. The survey sample was drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to accurately represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for the overall adult population is approximately plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
