TikTok Videos Disputing Trump’s Economic Claims Outnumber Supportive Ones 16 to 1, WSJ Review Finds
A Wall Street Journal review of more than 20,000 TikTok videos found clips disputing President Trump's economic claims outnumbered supportive ones about 16 to one, as polls show voters rejecting his "best economy" pitch ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
President Trump’s upbeat message about the economy is not landing with voters, according to a Wall Street Journal review of more than 20,000 TikTok videos published Friday. On the slice of videos the Journal reviewed, clips disputing his economic claims outnumbered supportive ones about 16 to one.
The Journal found about 6,250 of the videos substantively discussed at least one of nine economic claims Trump repeats at rallies. Gas prices, now averaging about $4.27 a gallon nationally, were the subject of more than a third of them, and most disputed him. Of 1,081 videos about his claim that tariffs bring in money paid by other countries, only 31 defended it. His pledge of a $5,000 “Trump dividend” for every adult citizen drew nearly nine times as much criticism as support. His claim that prices are coming down was the worst received of the nine: just 58 of 2,810 videos were positive.
The gap shows up in campaign advertising. In the 54 most competitive House and Senate races, only one Republican ad about the economy mentions Trump, according to AdImpact data cited by the Journal, while Democratic economy ads name him in about one in five. A Journal poll found half of white voters without a college degree say his economic policies made the economy worse, while 28 percent say they made it better. Republicans are defending a slim House majority and a 53-47 Senate edge.
Voters cite prices
Consumer prices rose 3.7 percent in the 12 months through September, accelerating from 3.4 percent in August, the Labor Department said this month. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 68 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, including 37 percent of self-identified Republicans. In response to the Journal’s reporting, a White House spokesman said: “Stories like this one prove that reporters would rather doomscroll social media than report on the progress President Trump has made to fix the economic mess that Joe Biden left behind.”
Reporting based on coverage by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.
