WASHINGTON — Americans’ optimism about the economy is on the rise — but a plurality still say conditions are getting worse, not better, according to a new poll exclusively shared with The Post.
The JL Partners survey found that 29% of registered voters said the economy is improving — up four percentage points from a late April poll by the same firm and seven percentage points higher than in January, before President Trump was inaugurated.
However, 46% say the economy is getting worse, with another 16% saying conditions are already bad and aren’t getting worse or better.
Discontent was at its highest after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in early April — after which 69% said conditions were bad or worsening.
Republicans and Democrats also differed sharply when asked about economic projections, the May poll shows, with 56% of self-identified GOP voters upbeat about the direction of the economy, compared with 15% who aren’t.
Among Democrats, 65% said things aren’t getting better and 15% said they were.
Among unaffiliated voters, 17% were positive about the economic outlook, while 55% were not.
More female voters (51%) than male voters (40%) also saw signs of economic diminishment in the near future.
Voters in almost every region held net-negative views about the economy — with two notable exceptions.
Southeast-dwelling voters had a net-positive view, with 37% seeing signs of improvement and 35% expecting something worse.
Voters in the Midwest were also net-positive (40% to 38%) about the economic future.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an easing of inflation to 2.3% over the past 12 months ending in April — the lowest level since February 2021.
A series of polls that followed Trump’s first 100 days showed the president losing the majority of the American public’s support for his economic, immigration and foreign policy priorities.
On Wednesday, Trump tore into a CNBC reporter who asked whether the stock market rallying in recent weeks was because he “chickens out” on tariff threats against most countries.
“You mean because I reduced China from 145%, that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, [and] I said you have to open your whole country?” the president returned fire.
“And because I gave the European Union a 50% … tariff and they called up and they said, “Please let’s meet right now,” he went on. “And I said, ‘I’ll give you until July’ … you call that chickening out?
“Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead,” he added. “People didn’t think it would survive, and you ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation … Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
Trump’s global 10% tariffs and threats of higher “reciprocal” duties announced April 2 led to new trade agreements with the UK and China.
But the Court of International Trade in Manhattan blocked those baseline tariffs on Wednesday, ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and wrongly bypassed Congress.
That caused stock futures to surge early Thursday morning.
Other import levies on foreign cars, aluminum, and steel were untouched by the court ruling — and have already been partially relaxed for Mexico and Canada under a pre-existing trade deal Trump reached with those countries during his first term.
Nearly all of the 19 officials at the Federal Reserve meeting in early May expressed that the risk of inflation was expected to be “persistent” — and they would hold off on any interest-rate moves for the time being.
That came before Trump’s new threat of 50% tariffs on the European Union beginning June 1, which was pushed back to July 9 while the two enter negotiations.
The JL Partners poll surveyed 1,003 registered voters online May 13-14. It has a margin of error of of plus-or-minus 3.1%.
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