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How does public perception of today’s economic turmoil compare with the past? Review of the polls from 1979-1980, 1987, 2008-2009 and their comparison with today’s polls provides some first answers. Not only the public interest is high, as in previous periods of uncertainty, but also the sense of feeling of leadership and pessimism about their prospects and the country. None of them are good news for Trump’s administration.
In the new Harvardcaps/Harris poll71% of registered voters said they had seen news about the stock market last week. In a poll of October 19, 1987 ABC News/Washington Post received after the seizure of Djia 22.6 points, 89% said they had heard or read about the recent fall in the stock market. A Pew Research Center question posed during the 2008 crash found that 70% said they were following news about the economy very closely. This answer was one of the top answers of all time in the long (and unfortunately interrupted) regular news indicator. Although the questions asked in these different periods are not identical, it is clear (and not surprising) that people pay particular attention to economic chaos.
A second comparison with previous periods comes with the revision of the country’s mood. Preliminary April 2025 reading from long -term Consumer Research at the University of Michigan It’s a good place to get started. The index fell for the fourth straight month in all demographic groups and among the sympathetic. Consumers’ share expecting to increase unemployment has increased for the fifth month and is now higher since 2009. Expectations for inflation in research has increased to higher reading since 1981.
The station determined the economic climate in the late 1970s. When Jimmy Carter came to the office, Michigan’s index was 87. Until May 1980, it was 51. In 1987, the feeling fell between October and November, but was noted again in December. In a La Times poll taken at the end of October 1987, people said they were more concerned about paying higher taxes (28%) and increasing inflation (23%) than it was for another reduction in stock market (7%).
In 2008-2009, people fear that the country’s economy could collapse. A decade laterOne could see in polls the signs from the crash. Unfortunately, there is no uniform trend in polls that allow us to look at the late 1970s to the present day in the views of people and their children’s perspectives. However, the Gallup’s life rating index was 48.9 in February, slightly above its lowest point during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
By turning to the approval rating of each President, The last gallup It has Trump to 44%, a decrease from 47%to the end of January, but its total rating is still slightly higher than the average rating of the first year (41%). At the end of November Gallup Poll before leaving the post, Jimmy Carter’s score (34%) was almost half what was when he was elected (66%). The Americans had their doubts about Reagan’s financial management. He started his presidency to 51% and decreased to 35% during the 1983 recession. Soon he began to improve. In 1987, people accused the stock market falls on broader financial problems and speculators of stock markets, not President Reagan. But he faced other problems at that point, including the Iran-Conra scandal, which made his approval ratings in 43% before the crash.
President George W. Bush was a non -popular duck Koutsos with a 25% rating in October 2008. Candidate John McCain entered when he suspended his campaign to return to Washington to deal with the crisis. Barack Obama replied that candidates could do more than one thing at a time and Obama was elected to face the financial slaughterhouse.
Historical comparisons are not good for the current administration. Trump has lost ground in the basic metric of handling of economics and inflation and invoices in recent weeks. In the CNBC poll released on Monday, his score to handle the economy was 43%, the lowest of his presidential career. It is premature to judge the financial success or failure of his presidency, but people do not like financial turmoil or uncertainty. The administration must be worried about the previous ones. It’s Trump’s economy now.
