U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, befrore departing for Florida from the South Lawn, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A damning new Wall Street Journal poll on Friday delivered a another devastating blow to President Donald Trump's economic boasts, revealing crumbling voter confidence just weeks into 2026.
By a crushing 15-point margin, voters now rate the economy as weak rather than strong, a dramatic swing from July, when the negative gap was just 4 points. Nearly half of all voters say the economy has gotten worse over the past year, while just 35% see improvement.
"Those are among the warning signs for the president and the Republican Party in a new Wall Street Journal poll, which finds that voters think Trump is focusing on foreign affairs and other matters at the expense of their most pressing concerns—rising prices and the overall economy," the Journal wrote.
A stunning 53% said Trump is wasting time on unnecessary foreign matters while ignoring America's own kitchen table issues.
His disapproval rating has widened to 9 points, with 54% disapproving versus 45% approving, up from 6 points in July. On inflation specifically, Trump faces a whopping 17-point disapproval gap, worse than the 11-point hole he had just six months ago.
"Trump says he 'inherited a mess' from his predecessor, but 58% of voters in the survey said that Trump’s policies were most responsible for the current economy, while 31% said former President Joe Biden’s policies were most responsible," the report said.
John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who conducted the survey with Republican Adam Geller, said Trump is "basically turning his biggest strength—'I’m the guy who can fix the economy, because I was a business guy'—into his biggest weakness…People don’t think he’s making the economy a priority, which is a huge problem.”