Republican pollster Sarah Longwell believes that President Donald Trump’s long-standing image as a savvy businessman is beginning to crack — and it may be his own economic policies that deal the final blow.
During a recent appearance, Longwell explained that Trump’s reputation as a capable economic leader, shaped heavily by his years on The Apprentice, has shielded him from broader criticism — even among voters who are otherwise put off by his behavior.
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“Trump’s carefully curated impression, you know, through his years on ‘The Apprentice,’ for voters is that he’s a businessman,” Longwell said. “So, I hear it over and over and over again when people say, look, I don’t like his personality or… the way he behaves… But he’s a businessman, and I think he’s going to lower prices. I think he’s going to do good things for the economy. And so right now, what you’re seeing is Donald Trump taking a knife to the mythology that keeps him above water with people.”
While Trump still maintains a solid base of around 32% — voters, Longwell says, “will have to be living on the street before they will admit that Donald Trump has ruined the economy,” — she notes that his broader support is beginning to waver, told Raw Story.
These are voters who backed Trump because of inflation and high prices, but now, as concerns over tariffs mount, they’re beginning to feel uneasy. “You’re starting to hear people really worry about the fact that Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the economy,” Longwell said. “That is not what he is focused on.”
She added that even among pro-Trump groups, there’s growing skepticism — not just about Trump’s economic priorities, but also about figures like Elon Musk and speculative markets like DOGE. “These are just consumers who wanted things to be cheaper,” she explained. “And [if] Donald Trump raises prices on them, they will abandon him very fast.”
Longwell believes that for many, a personal wake-up call is inevitable. “They have to touch the stove, right? They have to feel the negative personal consequences before they’re really going to turn on him,” she said, predicting that the ripple effects of tariffs may finally be what bursts the so-called Trump bubble.
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