Democrats criticize Trump’s handling of the economy, but do they have any solutions themselves?

President Donald Trump is getting hammered by voters who helped him win back the White House, and Democrats see a chance to gain ground. But they still have no real plan.

That’s what Navigator Research, a Democratic-aligned group, found when it ran three separate focus groups with Trump voters from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. These are swing states. These are voters who chose Trump in 2020 and again in 2024. Now, many of them are questioning that decision.

This lines up with other recent polling showing more people getting pissed off about Trump’s handling of the economy. The cost of living hasn’t dropped, tariffs are hitting harder, and the chaos people expected him to fix seems worse.

But even with all that frustration, Navigator is telling Democrats to stop sitting back and waiting for voters to magically come running to them. They need to come up with their own answers. And fast.

Democrats avoid action while voters regret their choice

Rachael Russell, who runs polling and analytics for Navigator, told Democrats not to get lazy.

“Democrats can’t just assume that because [voters] are upset with Trump right now, that anyone’s coming back to them,” she said. “They must give their vision of what an economy that works for everybody looks like, and it can’t just be that the economy sucks.”

She said voters are already showing signs of regret.

“Now is the time to provide real solutions that people can look to as an alternative because we’re seeing that splintering right now,” Russell said. “We’re seeing people say, ‘this isn’t necessarily what I voted for.’”

And yet, even with all the warning signs flashing red, Russell said most Democrats still aren’t doing shit. “Everyone’s kind of like, we’re not in power, we can’t do anything.”

She said the few who are trying to show a different way are doing it alone. “There’s people out there doing this on their own, but as an entity, as a party, it doesn’t feel like there’s a real vision that’s being expressed,” she said.

That’s a major opening for the party, but it won’t mean anything if they keep ducking the hard part—offering real solutions that people can understand and support.

Voters are clearly fed up. In a CNN poll, the number of Americans who think Trump made the economy worse went up by 8 points in just one month. In the focus groups, people described Trump’s first 100 days as “chaotic,” “disappointing,” and a “mixed bag.”

Trump’s shadow looms large over the economic outlook

These focus groups dropped right around Trump’s 100th day back in office. His approval ratings? At rock bottom. A poll from The New York Times and Siena College found voters hated how he was handling every major issue, even immigration and the economy—his so-called strengths. He went off on Truth Social, calling the numbers “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS.”

But his base isn’t buying it anymore. People in the focus groups were pissed about how prices haven’t dropped. They pointed to Trump’s failure to fix the cost of living, even though that’s what he promised when he came back into office.

Tariffs are part of that anger. Most of the ones now hitting hard were announced over the past month. Some voters said they liked the idea, but hated how sloppy the rollout was. A man from Michigan with a college degree said, “It’s not a bad idea, but if the implementation is flawed, then—you can’t turn it on and turn it off like it’s air conditioning.” He said the whole thing created instability and made it hard for people to plan.

Still, others were more patient. Some said they’d give Trump a year to make it work, even if it hurt for a while. That patience got tested when the moderator shared a study from Yale University showing tariffs could cost families an extra $4,700 a month. Some voters flat-out rejected it.

Meanwhile, Trump just signed a bill that was supposed to be about tax and border enforcement. But buried in the details was language that handed him huge new executive powers. That law even shut down a Pentagon program. And yes, that bill passed with his signature.

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