Americans say cost of living is on the wrong track

Washington, D.C., March 13, 2025–The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey shows President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady at just over two in five American approving of his job performance. The data shows that most are unhappy with the direction of cost of living, but more say that immigration policy is going in the right direction. Americans want the Trump administration to prioritize working on inflation other issues. A majority of Americans continue to support U.S. involvement in Ukraine, and most are uninterested in expanding U.S. territory to Greenland, Canada or the Panama Canal.

Detailed Findings:

Forty-four percent of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, unchanged for the last three Reuters/Ipsos surveys. Fifty-two percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of his job. Just 39% approve of his handling of the economy, and just 32% approve of his handling the cost of living, and half approve of his handling of immigration (50%). Sixty-one percent of Americans want Donald Trump to prioritize inflation and rising prices, followed by shrinking the size of the federal government (13%), immigration (10%), other unspecified issues (9%), crime (6%), and expanding U.S. territory (1%).

Nearly three to one, Americans say that the cost of living is off on the wrong track (61%) rather than going in the right direction (22%). A similar split exists for inflation, where 22% say it is going in the right direction, compared to 60% who say it is off on the wrong track.  Forty-seven percent of Americans say that the immigration policy is going in the right direction compared to 39% who say it is going off on the wrong track.  A majority of Americans say that international trade is going in the wrong direction (52%) compared to 28% who say it is headed in the right direction.

When it comes to handling of the economy, 57% of Americans say that Trump’s moves to shake up the economy are too erratic, and the country is split on whether Donald Trump’s moves to shake up the economy will pay off in the long run (41% agree while 44% disagree).

On foreign policy, Americans are split on U.S. involvement and foreign aid to other countries. Half of Americans (50%) support continuing to provide weapons and financial aid to Ukraine while 46% oppose it, and 53% support cutting U.S. aid to foreign countries. More than half (56%) say that Donald Trump is too closely aligned with Russia and a majority support Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied arms to strike within Russia (54%). Over half (57%) disagree with the statement “the problems of Ukraine are none of our business and we should not interfere.”

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted March 11-12, 2025, on behalf of Reuters using the KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a representative sample of 1,422 U.S. residents, age 18 or older.

The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race and ethnicity, census region, metropolitan status, education, household income, party ID, and 2024 presidential vote. Party ID benchmarks are from the 2024 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). 

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or above)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.14 for all adults. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson 
Senior Vice President, U.S. 
Public Affairs 
+1 202 420-2025 
[email protected]

Annaleise Azevedo Lohr 
Director, U.S. 
Public Affairs 
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 solutions are based on primary data from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

Our tagline "Game Changers" sums up our ambition to help our 5,000 customers move confidently through a rapidly changing world.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has been listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and Mid-60 indices and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP