President Trump Approval - Economy | RealClearPolling

According to a poll conducted at the end of 2022, Americans were feeling quite pessimistic about the coming year. 90 percent of Americans felt negatively about the prospect of political conflict in 2023.

The Economy 2022 was a difficult year for many Americans, as it was for many around the world. After a year of high inflation, record fuel prices, and decreased financial security, the country greeted 2023 with high rates of skepticism and caution. Although the U.S. economy itself has experienced a strong rebound from the pandemic recession compared with other major economies, a sustained decline in consumer spending power thanks to wage growth not keeping pace with inflation has everyday Americans feeling the pinch.

U.S. political landscape The political scene in the U.S. also had a tumultuous few years in the lead up to 2023. The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in 2016 left many voters reeling and the country more divided than ever. The beginning of 2021 was market by the January 6th attack on the Capitol, as well as the inauguration of Joe Biden. Additionally, the country continued to grapple with a politicized response to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. 2022 began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ushering in the beginning of a global fuel and inflation crisis. In the midst of hardening economic conditions, the Supreme Court overturned its ruling on Roe v. Wade, returning the power to decide abortion restrictions to state legislatures.

The 2022 midterm elections saw Republicans win enough seats to take back control of the House of Representatives, but saw the GOP ultimately underperform compared to predictions at the time. The first day of the 2023 congressional term was marked by the inability of the Republican Party to unify itself behind one candidate for Speaker of the House, leading to a once in a century multi-round of Speaker elections. With new members of the House not able to be sworn in until a Speaker is elected, 2023 had a difficult start.

This statistic shows the results of an opinion poll conducted in 2015 asking Americans to describe Donald Trump in one word. In 2015, 9.8 percent of Americans chose the words "idiot/jerk/stupid/dumb" to describe Donald Trump, 6 percent chose "arrogant" and 5.6 percent chose "crazy/nuts".

Trump's perception as a presidential candidate

In 2015, when Americans who were asked to describe Donald Trump in one word, close to 10 percent of Americans chose the words “idiot/jerk/stupid/dumb”. Other words that were used include arrogant, crazy, nuts, buffoon, clown, joke, unfavorable, egotistical, narcissist, bombastic, entertaining, untrustworthy and aggressive. Of course there were also a few positive words used to describe him, but interestingly, the majority of chosen terms was negatively connotated.

At the start of 2016, the Huffington post chose other words to describe him when they began using this disclaimer: "Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S." Yet, it is exactly these characteristics which have helped him get significant attention, and which have brought to light some important underlying issues that have been churning in American society. For instance, Trump has spent less than other candidate throughout his campaign. Also, back in 2014, before Trump entered the race as a serious contender, the most important problems facing the United States were defined as dissatisfaction with government, the economy in general and immigration/illegal aliens. Trump has addressed all three. In 2016, terrorism, gun control, and racism have also gained importance. Apparently it doesn’t matter if Trump is perceived as an idiot or a racist, these characteristics do not seem to be hindering his campaign.

As of June 2025, 56 percent of people in Great Britain thought that it was wrong to leave the European Union, compared with 31 percent who thought it was the right decision. During this time period, the share of people who regret Brexit has been slightly higher than those who support it, except for some polls in Spring 2021, which showed higher levels of support for Brexit. Is Bregret setting in? Since late July 2022, the share of people who regret Brexit in these surveys has consistently been above 50 percent. Additionally, a survey from January 2025 highlighted that most people in the UK thought that Brexit had had a mainly negative impact, especially on the cost of living and the economy. Despite there being a clear majority of voters who now regret Brexit, there is as yet no particular future relationship with the EU that has overwhelming support. As of late 2023, 31 percent of Britons wanted to rejoin the EU, while 30 percent merely wanted to improve trade relations and not rejoin either the EU or the single market. Leave victory in 2016 defied the polls In the actual referendum, which took place on June 23, 2016, Leave won 51.9 percent of the votes and Remain 48.1 percent, after several polls in the run-up to the referendum put Remain slightly ahead. Remain were anticipated to win until early results from North East England suggested that Leave had performed far better than expected, with this pattern replicated throughout the country. This event was repeated somewhat in the U.S. election of that year, which saw Donald Trump win several key swing states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, despite predictions that these states would vote for Hillary Clinton.