Americans Think Inflation, Not Immigration, Should be Trump's Priority During his First 100 Days in Office

Americans see inflation, not immigration, as the issue President-elect Donald Trump should tackle first during his initial 100 days in office, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday. The results show a continuation of what issue voters trust Trump the most to handle: the economy.

The recent poll, which surveyed 1,014 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points, showed that 35% of respondents picked inflation as the area Trump should focus on as soon as he gets into office.

A close second was immigration, a topic that Trump has been highly vocal about throughout the campaign trail, which 30% of respondents opined should be the top priority. In third place was jobs and the general economy, which 27% of respondents think he should tackle first.

These numbers don't come as a surprise, given inflation, the economy and immigration have been popular issues for Trump's political career.

An October Gallup poll showed that out of 22 issues, 52% U.S. registered voters thought it was an "extremely important issue," while 38% rated it as a "very important" issue. This survey showed that voters saw Trump as more capable able of handling the economy than his Democratic counterpart, Vice President Kamala Harris, at 54% to her 45%.

In order to tackle the economy, the President-elect has proposed to impose tariffs of 10% to 20% on all imports, along with extra tariffs ranging from 60% to 100% on goods imported from China. He has also said American farmers were getting "decimated" because the U.S. allows so many agricultural products into the country.

But despite his enthusiasm and voters' trust on the issue, experts say his proposals could actually hurt the country.

Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter in June expressing fear that Trump's proposals would "reignite" inflation, which has plummeted since peaking at 9.1% in 2022 and is nearly back to the Fed's 2% target.

"For a country like the U.S., which is embedded in deep relationships with other countries, conforming to international norms and having normal and stable relationships with other countries is also an imperative," the researchers said. "Donald Trump and the vagaries of his actions and policies threaten his stability and the U.S.'s standing in the world."

Trump's mass deportation plans, another popular goal among voters, could also have ripple effects on the economy and inflation. There are more than 2 million undocumented workers throughout the U.S. food chain, the Associated Press reported, including an estimated 1 million on farms, 750,000 working in restaurants and 200,000 in food productions.

If his mass deportation plans are carried out to their full extent, U.S. inflation rate would be 3.5 percentage points higher in 2026, the Peterson Institute calculates.

Nevertheless, voters still show mild optimism about the new term. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, some 30% of Republicans said the county was heading in the right direction, compared to 3% who said the same in October, just before the election. Only 8% of Democrats think the same currently, down from 29% in October.