Over the past few weeks, amid the turbulence caused by the Trump administration’s new tariffs, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly asked Americans to be patient. If they endured a period of uncertainty, some economic pain, and perhaps a temporary rise in prices, the message was that it would all be for the greater good: the prosperous future of the United States, from which they would also end up benefiting.
A look at Trump’s approval ratings since the Liberation Day announcements and the market turmoil that followed suggests that many Americans are unwilling to swallow that pill. After all, didn’t Trump promise to improve their situation now, not five years from now? As Democrats discovered in the 2024 election, Americans have a very low tolerance for economic pain, even if it is only temporary. Exit polls suggested that Kamala Harris lost the election because many Americans felt worse under Biden than before, and Trump was the candidate who promised to change that.
When Gallup recently asked Americans how long they would be willing to accept economic disruption in order for the United States to reap economic benefits from higher tariffs, the results suggested that the clock is ticking against the Trump administration to deliver results. While 31 percent of respondents said they were not willing to accept any kind of economic problem, 20 percent said they would accept a couple of months of turbulence and another 22 percent said they would endure disruption for up to a year.
Interestingly, Republicans expressed a much greater willingness to accept temporary economic inconveniences in pursuit of long-term benefits than Democrats. Given the degree of polarization of the American political landscape, this is most likely due to the fact that a Republican president is behind the policies in question.