A survey conducted after President-elect Donald Trump’s win earlier this month shows that a plurality of Americans want his incoming administration to focus on tackling inflation.
About 23 percent said he should also focus on unifying the country, while smaller numbers said that he should focus on taxes, crime, and foreign affairs in his first 100 days, according to the poll.
Throughout the campaign, Trump often focused on the economy and inflation at campaign events, arguing that his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, had underperformed in her role over the past four years in dealing with the economy.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump has repeatedly stated he would rein in the inflation that has plagued the country during the Biden administration.
Slashing federal spending and waste would “help quickly to stop inflation and slash the deficit,” Trump states on his website, adding that he will use his presidential powers to “squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings,” resulting in tax cuts.
“Very simply, this meant that if Congress provided more funding than was needed to run the government, the President could refuse to waste the extra funds, and instead return the money to the general treasury and maybe even lower your taxes, although we did give you the biggest tax reduction in history, and the biggest regulation reduction in history, two things I am very proud of,” Trump said.
Trump has also vowed to use his win and Republican sweep of Congress to enact significant policy changes, including new tariffs on imports, tax cuts, and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
Inflation surged in 2021 and 2022 as global supply chains were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic amid heavy government spending. Price increases have moderated more recently but the annual rate of inflation remains elevated.
A report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week shows that U.S. consumer prices increased in October amid higher costs for shelter such as rent, while progress toward lower inflation has stalled in recent months, which could result in fewer interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year.
“Progress on inflation has started to stall,” Michael Pugliese, senior economist at Wells Fargo, said in a note last week. “The time is fast approaching when the Fed will signal that the pace of rate cuts will slow further, perhaps to an every-other-meeting pace starting in 2025.”
The consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent for the fourth straight month, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Nov. 13. The increase was in line with economists’ expectations.
Republicans in the Reuters-Ipsos poll said they were most interested in Trump focusing on immigration, with 56 percent of them picking that option compared to 11 percent of Democrats.
Congress will certify Trump’s election win on Jan. 6, 2025, while he will be inaugurated two weeks later, on Jan. 20. Trump has vowed to issue a series of day-one executive orders targeting the border, illegal immigration, the economy, and drilling for oil.
