Whipsawed By Trump's Tariffs, The Us Public Is Getting A Lot More Nervous About The Economy

President Donald Trump's volatile tariff threats are unleashing historic jumps in public anxiety, with the potential to undermine his pledges to strengthen a U.S. economy that is increasingly weakened.

The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment tumbled 10.5 on a monthly basis in March and plunged 27.1 over the past year. The preliminary report released Friday shows that consumers' expectations of annual inflation climbed to 3.9 from 3.5, the largest monthly jump since 1993.

Along with a ferocious stock market selloff and downgrades to growth estimates by Wall Street economists, the latest confidence numbers are evidence of possible blowback facing Trump, who just months into his term has suggested that his threats of import taxes meant to create factory jobs would in the short term cause "a little pain."

Declines were 'seen consistently across all groups by age, education, income, wealth, political affiliations, and geographic regions," Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, said in a statement. "Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors."

Even Trump's base supporters are turning slightly more pessimistic. Sentiment fell 3.2 among Republicans. They backed Trump in last year's election on the promise that he would boost growth and bring down prices after inflation spiked to a four-decade high in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden, an event that caused consumer confidence to slump for the Democrat and helped pave the way for Trump's return.