President Trump on Monday gets to ring the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq from the golden confines of the Oval Office, a symbolic act that reflects how he has increasingly tied his presidency to the stock market. With high inflation hurting Trump's popularity, the Republican president has tried to get more Americans to focus on their 401(k) investments, claiming that his policies should get the credit for any gains, particularly as the November midterm elections draw closer. "It's all going well—the stock market is setting records virtually every day," Trump told reporters last week before boarding Air Force One, per the AP. "Thank you, President Trump."
Only 33% of US adults approve of Trump's economic leadership, according to a June survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The act of ringing the opening bell suggests why the president's emphasis on the stock market might not help his party much with voters this fall. The Oval Office event is aimed at promoting the launch of Trump Accounts, which were created as a vehicle for children to have investments in stock indexes as part of Republicans' big 2025 tax and spending cuts bill.
In championing the accounts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized that many Americans have no direct exposure to stocks. This means that millions of people are not benefiting from investments that largely accrue to more affluent households or that the benefits they're receiving are for retirements decades away. "Today, 38% of American adults do not own stocks," Bessent said last December. "But with Trump Accounts, over time, we can get that number down to zero."
The S&P 500 stock index posted gains of 17.9% in 2025, but that came after annual returns of 25% in 2024 and 26.3% in 2023, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. The benchmark stock index has risen roughly 10% so far this year. But just as inflation crushed public support for Biden, Trump has also seen his approval fall prey to a cycle of rising prices. Trump won the 2024 election by promising to bring down costs, but his tariffs and the start of the war in Iran have created new inflationary pressures. The consumer price index has climbed 4.2% over the past 12 months, up from 3% when Trump started his second term in January 2025.
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