Half of Americans think Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll.

Net approval of Trump’s handling of the Epstein investigation is minus 48 – meaning the share of Americans who strongly, or somewhat disapprove, minus the share who approve, is 34%.

52% of Americans say Trump is trying to cover up Epstein’s crimes while 30% say he isn’t. 91% of Democrats, 55% of Independents and 12% of Republicans say Trump is trying to cover them up.

Meanwhile, G. Elliott Morris has found that Trump was an inheritor of that famous US political grouping – the Know Nothings. The Know Nothings were a mid 19th century nativist political movement in the United States, known for their anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic stance.

After analysing the data from the 2014 election Morris said voters who knew the least about politics were some of Trump’s strongest supporters.

One pre-election poll found that Americans who didn’t consume any news at all said they would vote for Trump over Harris by a 20% margin. High knowledge voters split evenly Trump-Harris with Harris having a slight advantage.

The situation has now changed dramatically and now low-knowledge voters are just as likely as high-knowledge voters to oppose Trump.

The Morris analysis started with asking respondents two factual questions – which party controls the US House and which the Senate. If they know which party controlled the Senate and House they were rated high knowledge and low knowledge if they got one of them wrong.

Net approval on Trump’s handling of jobs and the economy, trade, foreign policy, immigration, health care and government funding barely differ between the two groups.

There is an exception to this though – low knowledge respondents disapprove of Trump’s handling of prices and inflation by 40% compared to minus 30% for high knowledge adults.

Elliott Morriss says the difference is “not because they were more conservative than other voters, but because they are more anti-incumbent, Now that Trump is in power, we should expect this group to punish him more too.”

Low knowledge adults also skew lower income, younger, less educated and less politically engaged. They spend a larger share of their income on groceries and essentials.

Morriss says: “If your monthly grocery bill increases by $1000 but you make $100,000 a year you might not really notice the difference. But for someone on $35,000a n extra $100 a month is minus 5% of their after tax income.”

Morris argues that Trump largely won in 2024 because a quarter of the electorate was not paying enough attention to his promises to know much about what he would do as President.

Now they are seeing the results they are just as anti-Trump as voters who spend all day consuming political news.

Meanwhile SSRS, a research firm, has been asking Americans about whether they are proud of who they have as president. 65% say they are not proud to have him as president. 65% also don’t believe he is touch with the problems ordinary Americans Face in their daily lives.

As for whether he puts the good of the country above his personal gain – 37% agree and 68% doesn’t and think he is out of touch with the problems of ordinary Americans.

Morris also highlights Trump’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s tariff decision. He called the Justices who voted down the tariffs “a disgrace to the nation” and an “embarrassment to their families.”

Sadly, for Trump not only is the Supreme Court against him on tariffs but so is the public with a margin of 19% saying they disapprove rather than approve of how he his handling tariffs. A Morris poll in last August found that 56% opposed tariffs.

Attacking the Court won’t produce any gain for Trump. A Marquette Law School, survey in January found that 82% of Americans – including 76% of Republicans – say the President must obey Supreme Court rulings.

FDR found that lesson the hard way back in 1935 when defending his New Deal programs. He lost and the Court won.

….and of course there is still the big question. How do companies and consumers claw back the billions of dollars in costs the tariffs Trump illegally imposed?