Enten: Americans not giving Trump’s tax plan 'two thumbs up'

[0:00] Today is the first tax day where the president's big tax and spending cut bill kicks in and people [0:06] can receive the benefits theoretically of them. So how do they feel about it? With us now, [0:14] CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. All kinds of administration officials fanning out, [0:20] touting the big, beautiful bill as it's called today. How's it working? [0:25] Ain't working too good because Trump is paying the piper when it comes to taxes and the [0:29] American public. Look at this trend. I mean, again, what massive trends we're seeing from [0:35] term one to term two? Trump's net approval rating at this point on taxes and term number one in 2018, [0:40] remember there was that tax cut that was just passed just before tax day back in 2018. Look at [0:45] this. He was above water at plus two points, but down he goes, down he goes. Look at this. He's at [0:50] minus 28 points as net approval rating on taxes, down 30 points from term number one. If there are [0:58] benefits that the American people are liking when it comes to the one big, beautiful bill act, [1:02] they are not in fact giving the two thumbs up to Donald Trump when it comes to that. I'm reading [1:07] the fine print there. Oh yes. The fine print there. I leave fine print and John's able to find it. [1:12] Among independents, he is 58 points underwater with independence when it comes to taxes. My goodness [1:18] gracious. I'm going to circle it. That is stunning. Again, he says he cut your taxes and people are 58 [1:23] points opposed to an independence. Yes. All right. In general, this is an interesting question. What [1:28] do people say about taxes in general, whether they're fair? Yeah, I think this may be part of [1:31] the equation of what is going on here. Take a look at this. Okay. Say their income taxes are not fair [1:36] or fair. Back in 2018, again, at this point in Trump's term number one, 61% of Americans said fair. [1:42] There was a big upswing that said fair coming off of Obama to Trump. Trump got that benefit. But look [1:47] right now in term number two. Look at this. It's a flip flop. Now the plurality, 49% say the tax [1:53] taxes that they pay are not fair. That has risen 13 points from this point in Trump's term number [1:58] one. And look at this. The fair has plummeted down to 47%. That is near an all time low since [2:04] 1999 who said that their taxes are fair. And John's off there shaking because these numbers [2:09] are unbelievable. Well, because it's after President Trump pushed through this so-called [2:12] big, beautiful bill, which he says, you know, will give people these tax cuts, which they presumably [2:17] would be feeling today. So how, you know, what's approval overall of that now law? Okay. We've [2:22] saved the best for last, or at least saved something good for last. And I think this kind [2:25] of puts a nice big ribbon, a nice big bow on this segment. Take a look here. Net approval rating of [2:31] the one big, beautiful bill act. Look at this. The American people, they don't like it. They don't [2:36] like it. Look at this. 20 points underwater. And look among independents. Independence, the name of the [2:42] game. We have seen Trump over and over and over again struggle with independence. And you see it right [2:47] here. Look at this 41 points underwater. No wonder that Donald Trump is struggling so much when it [2:53] comes to the American public and taxes, because the one big, beautiful bill act, the big, big, [2:58] beautiful bill everyone was talking about. Everyone's talking about the American people. [3:01] Johnny Berman simply put, do not like it. The signature legislative achievement as it is now mid [3:08] April heading into the midterm elections. This is where it stands. April 15th is usually met with [3:13] groans and stress, but the Republicans are trying to refile. Today is a win. Thank you, [3:21] Nia. From the Trump administration officials to Republican senators and House Speaker, [3:26] the party is mounting a full-scale tax day blitz. It's tax week and we're celebrating [3:33] major tax cuts around this country. Why is tax day a good day? Because you're going to have [3:39] $300 more per month to spend. Why? Bank of Republicans. Thanks to the working family's tax [3:46] cuts. Americans in all 50 states are benefiting from taxes that are lower and simpler and fairer [3:52] for their families. The Treasury Department says millions of Americans are claiming at least [3:58] one deduction from President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill on tips, overtime, senior citizens [4:04] income and car loan interest. Average refunds are up more than 11% from last year, but still [4:11] falling short of what the Treasury Department originally projected. My panel is back now. [4:17] There's rebranding Trump style and then there's this. Yeah. I mean, the communicator in chief, [4:23] the president, whether he sticks to this message is the big if here. We saw the early taste of that [4:28] this week when he had the door dasher come to the White House to deliver burgers to the president [4:34] and talk about no tax on tips. And he handed her a $100 bill. But most of that encounter ended up being [4:40] about the Jesus picture that the president posted. So whether he can stick to that message, he's going [4:46] to Las Vegas tomorrow. He's supposed to be talking about this. We've seen this movie before where the [4:51] president is supposed to pivot and focus on his economic policies. He's supposed to not be launching [4:56] personal attacks or just crazy posting things on the Internet. Big if and whether we're actually [5:01] going to get there today. Yeah. And listen, this was supposed to be something that was key to [5:07] Republicans messaging for 2026 around affordability heading into the midterms. The problem is America [5:14] is at war and prices are higher as a result of that. So maybe you get $300 extra a month. It's [5:22] certainly lower than what they promised. It's going to be eaten up pretty quickly because you're [5:27] paying over $4 at the pump at this point. So they're sort of like they wanted to do one thing [5:34] in terms of focusing on this. But circumstances change because of a choice that Donald Trump made [5:39] to launch a war. So you saw some of those social media videos that are out today. Here are some [5:44] paid videos by the national Republican congressional campaign, the arm that tries to get House [5:50] Republicans elected. I want to play that and then also the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas [5:57] to see the contrast. Democrats made it harder to get ahead, spiking inflation to 40-year highs. [6:05] But Nick Begich changed that. Voting for real tax relief that puts more money back in your pocket. [6:12] No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and a double child tax credit. David Valadeo delivered help for [6:18] working families. It's tax day. And this year, nearly every American will pay more in taxes [6:26] except for billionaires. For 50 years, billionaires have bankrolled political campaigns. Then their [6:33] puppet politicians turn around and rewrite the tax code to favor those rich donors. [6:40] And let's look on this tax day at how people are feeling, certainly versus last year. Check this out. [6:47] The question in this Fox poll was, are taxes too high or about right? Let's look at 2025. So this is the year [6:55] that the president's big, beautiful bill passed. The answer to too high was 59 percent. Now, 2026, just a year [7:03] later, it's gone up to 70 percent. So it's gone the wrong way. Look, it's a great indicator of how people are [7:11] feeling about their bottom line. And to Nia's point earlier, it's the money that you're spending every [7:16] day. You see those prices at the gas station. I mean, there's no better advertisement for [7:21] just the real economy than that. So I think that probably explains it. I mean, obviously, [7:26] thinking back to the beginning of this year, so many Republican strategists were telling us by April, [7:32] by April, the affordability message is going to be front and center. The president is going to have [7:37] cross that hurdle. He's going to be traveling across the country talking about this. Circumstances [7:42] changed, which often happens in politics. Sometimes with things out of your control, [7:47] this is an example of something in his control. He decided to launch this foreign policy challenge in [7:54] Iran. And this is where people find themselves. But I think just as a broader point there, perhaps [8:03] people are getting money back in their refunds. But it's an open question how long they're going to [8:08] remember that when they have to get gas next week, the next week, the next week, etc. [8:12] Yeah. And then there's the question of sort of the haves and the have-nots. And one of the big [8:19] issues the Democrats have been pushing, because they're hearing about it from people back home, [8:25] is the fact that rich people aren't paying enough in taxes and just the opposite. So we have a poll on that. [8:32] What bothers you most about taxes? The question, rich people not paying enough? 38%. So a third of [8:41] people are saying, yeah, rich people aren't paying enough in taxes. To be honest, I thought it would [8:45] be higher than that. But it is telling when it comes to what Democrats are looking at and trying [8:53] to craft and already crafting on their message. Right. And as we get closer to November, we're going [8:57] to be hearing a lot more of those messages, looking at like the CBO studies from the One Big Beautiful [9:01] bill about what those impacts will actually be long term and who was really benefiting from it. [9:07] You know, those returns this year are higher, but they're not expected to be quite so high next year. [9:12] And, you know, as Jeff was pointing out, by November, are people still going to be remembering [9:16] that? Are they going to be looking at, you know, gas prices still might be high? Housing costs are still [9:20] high in many places. Mortgage rates are still higher than the president's been talking about trying to [9:25] fire Jerome Powell because he's been putting this pressure campaign. But that's one that's still a [9:29] sticking point. You talk to people out. They want to sell their home. Their kids want to buy a home [9:32] that it's a general feeling of just things are hard right now. And on that, you mentioned refunds. [9:39] So we do have another graphic that we want to put up, which is the question of whether or not these [9:45] the gas prices, which have spiked when on people's actual wallets, whether or not they cancel out [9:54] the refunds that the administration is understandably and Republicans touting today. [10:00] And the answer there, you see it. Eight bucks. Is yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you get. Yeah. I mean, [10:06] it's all it's all canceled out. And it's there is a pressure and a strain that Americans are feeling [10:14] right now. My wife talks to me all the time about the price of gas, right? The price of groceries, [10:21] everything. And and, you know, we're doing pretty good relative to to other Americans. So I can [10:27] imagine if you are in a lower economic bracket, how this pressure feels and this sort of branding [10:34] that Republicans are trying to do. You can't really do that because people experience economy [10:39] every single day. Plain prices. My goodness. You know, we're trying to go to, you know, Chicago. [10:45] And it's like the prices that we're paying this year versus what we paid last year or just, you know, [10:51] what, you know, if planes get up in the air, I think it's. Yeah. Fuel. Fuel. Yeah, that's right. [10:56] That's right. Yeah. It's not magic. Right.