News Analysis: Trump gave himself high marks. Polls, markets, courts, allies paint a different picture
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- President Trump claimed in his joint address to Congress that the start of his administration has been “the most successful in the history of our nation.”
- Other views of the administration can be found all around, including in public polling, economic markets, federal courts and elsewhere.
President Trump gave his new administration high marks in a bullish speech to Congress on Tuesday, arguing he is making fast work of his promised agenda on immigration, the economy, international trade and global conflicts, and that the U.S. is stronger for it.
“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years — and we are just getting started,” Trump said during his speech, which resembled a State of the Union address.
Trump’s largely rosy assessment was backed by many Republicans, who applauded often throughout the speech, and there is evidence to support some of his claimed successes. At the southern border, for instance, illegal crossings have dwindled, just as Trump promised — though not to their lowest level ever, as Trump claimed Tuesday.
However, other indicators of success for a new president — including public polling, economic markets, court rulings and the remarks of foreign allies — paint a far more nuanced picture. In some cases, they support the opposing view of congressional Democrats and other critics that Trump’s policies have made the nation far weaker in a stunningly short period of time by disrupting core government services, rattling global financial markets, sparking trade battles, abandoning U.S. allies and providing little of the economic relief most desired by struggling Americans.
“America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan in a rebuttal speech delivered on behalf of Democrats.
President Trump in his first weeks back in the White House repeatedly bucked the Constitution in pursuit of his conservative agenda. Democrats decried the ensuing “chaos.”
Since his election in November — which was narrow in terms of votes but relatively decisive on the electoral map — Trump has claimed a wide mandate to enact his “America first” vision, including through sweeping executive orders designed to bypass Congress. He has used that argument to dismiss criticisms, including from federal judges, that his administration is overreaching, moving too quickly and potentially violating the law.
On Tuesday, Trump said that his November win “was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades,” that “for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction,” and that “it has been stated by many” that the first month of his presidency has been “the most successful in the history of our nation.”
However, recent polling has suggested that Americans are heavily divided on Trump’s policies, and that more disapprove of him and some of his key initiatives than approve of them. Trump’s key advisor Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has targeted federal agencies for closure or dramatic reductions in staffing and funding, have even less support.
An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll conducted last week, for example, found 45% of Americans approved of the job Trump is doing, while 49% disapproved. That is a high approval rating for Trump, who had a 38% approval rating at the end of his first term, but historically low for a new president ahead of his first address to Congress, according to Gallup and other polling figures.
Among modern presidents, only Trump himself, at the start of his first term in 2017, has had a lower approval at this stage.
A separate CNN poll, also conducted last week, put Trump’s approval rating at 48%. Both polls were conducted before Friday, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance shocked the world by berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, undoing a planned security and mineral rights deal.
Americans also are not overly optimistic about the path the country is on. According to the Marist poll, 53% of Americans said the state of the union is not very strong or not strong at all, 54% said the country is moving in the wrong direction, and 56% said Trump was rushing to make changes without properly considering the impacts.
On the economy, 42% said Trump was changing things for the better, 46% for the worse. On immigration, 47% said Trump was changing things for the better, 43% for the worse. On foreign policy, 44% said Trump was changing things for the better, 49% for the worse. On each issue, skepticism was highest among Democrats but also strong among independent voters, while Republicans largely backed the president.
Half of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of Musk, while 39% said they had a favorable view of him; 44% had an unfavorable view of DOGE, while 39% had a favorable view.
The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s disruptive role in Washington.
A majority, 57%, expected grocery prices will increase over the next six months, while 17% said they believed prices would go down.
Trump on Tuesday said that he had inherited an “economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare” from the previous Biden administration — something Democrats and many economists dispute — and that one of his “highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families.”
To do that, he said, his administration is rolling back restrictive energy policies to “drill, baby, drill,” calling for “tax cuts for everybody,” and instituting tariffs on U.S. trading partners, the latter of which he said “will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”
Republican leaders broadly praised Trump and his speech. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump ally from Georgia, wore a red hat to the address that read, “Trump was right about everything.”
Still, many others around the world looked on with concern.
Trump’s remarks followed his imposition of new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China — the U.S.’ top trading partners — and promises of retaliatory measures from all three. Experts predicted American consumers would soon pay more for fresh vegetables, fruits and other perishable imports.
Californians are among the nation’s largest consumers of imported Mexican avocados, tequila and beer. Prices of all are expected to spike because of Trump’s new tariffs.
In announcing that Canada would immediately strike back with its own tariffs on many American goods, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Trump administration Tuesday of instigating a “dumb” trade war that would harm average Americans.
“We don’t want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally,” Trudeau told Americans. “And we don’t want to see you hurt either, but your government has chosen to do this to you.”
Trudeau’s remarks added to widespread anger among allies across Europe over Trump’s lashing out at Zelensky. On Monday, Trump doubled down by temporarily suspending all U.S. military aid to Ukraine until Zelensky falls in line with Trump’s vision for a cease-fire with Russia, a move many viewed as an ultimatum for a long-standing U.S. ally and a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
U.S. and global financial markets were clearly rattled by the tariffs and escalating tensions between the U.S. and its partners. Stocks have tumbled in recent days, wiping out much of the gains seen since Trump was elected on a business-friendly platform.
Worries about a trade war and a slowdown in the global economy Tuesday led to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index falling 1.2%, the Dow Jones industrial average sliding 1.6% and the Nasdaq composite slipping 0.4%. European markets fell sharply, stocks in Asia more modestly.
Stocks racked up more losses on Wall Street as a trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners escalated, wiping out all the gains since election day for the S&P 500.
The volatility was mirrored on the domestic front, where Trump and Musk have riled Democrats and some Republicans with sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and other policies targeting vulnerable communities and constitutional rights.
In many instances, the Trump administration has admitted the cuts were poorly tailored, rushing to reinstate fired federal employees who protect the nation’s nuclear stockpile and national parks, among other things. Many of the cuts — including to social safety net programs such as Medicaid and the monitoring of infectious diseases — have been criticized as dangerous and legally dubious, including by California and other blue states, and been walked back by federal judges.
Judges have repeatedly questioned Trump’s executive power to redirect funds already appropriated by Congress, and called other Trump orders, such as one to end birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of immigrants, clearly unconstitutional.
How Trump’s aggressive approach will be received by the American public moving forward, and whether incidents such as his berating of Zelensky will affect his approval ratings, is unclear. Also unclear is whether he will respond to resistance other than by ignoring it or promising to crack down on it.
On Friday, California for the second time accused the Trump administration of ignoring a court order requiring it to release appropriated federal funding that it had unilaterally frozen, saying Federal Emergency Management Agency funds remain blocked. On Monday, Trump dismissed people criticizing his administration at recent Republican town halls as “paid ‘troublemakers.’”
Before his speech Tuesday, he said his administration will be withholding funds from colleges and universities that allow “illegal protests” on their campuses, then threatened Trudeau with even greater U.S. tariffs — calling him “Governor Trudeau,” a reference to Trump’s outlandish idea to annex Canada and make it the 51st U.S. state.
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