100 Days of Trump: How has the country been changed?

April 29 marks 100 days since President Donald Trump assumed office for the second time. After winning the popular and electoral votes, and all seven swing states, voters across the country demanded a change from the status quo. Voters wanted the economy strong, the border fixed, and strong foreign policy, and liked much of what Trump proposed to accomplish this. So has the president lived up to that mandate?

The answer is, of course, complicated. While inflation has been consistently dropping, Trump’s proposed tariffs on dozens of countries has people feeling pessimistic about the outcome of such massive changes to our trade. Trump recently announced that he would look to cut income tax and replace it with tariffs, which was the system in place before the 16th amendment and before income taxes. It will require congressional support and probably a review by the Supreme Court, but many people aren’t for this. Only 39% of American adults support the blanket tariffs over so many countries. The issue is also bringing down the President’s overall polling numbers, becoming voters’ most important issue.

On immigration, Trump’s strongest campaign issue, he has had ups and downs. CBP reported a 95% decline in illegal border crossings since January. In Florida, ICE carried out Operation Tidal Wave, arresting 800 illegal immigrants in just four days. But backlash about Abrego Garcia, a father arrested by ICE for suspected gang ties, and other controversies over due process has capsized support for Trump and ICE’s work on cracking down. Two recent polls show a vast difference in support; a Fox News poll had Trump at 55% approval and 40% disapproval, while the New York Times had Trump at 47% approval and 51% disapproval. Keep in mind that all news organizations have an agenda to either aid or hurt Trump’s image, so the numbers will always be fudged to push that agenda.

And finally, Trump’s foreign affairs has been divisive among voters. Aside from the tariffs, 46% of voters want more involvement in the Ukraine war. On Monday, Russia announced a 3-day ceasefire, suggesting that Vladimir Putin might be looking to negotiate with Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Israel and Gaza, two security sources claim that the recent Cairo negotiations have made “significant breakthroughs” in reaching nearer to a permanent ceasefire.

These were the most important election issues, and the results and reactions are mixed. 100 days is not a lot of time to kick off a full overhaul of the previous administration and starting over with new ideas, new policies and a new Cabinet. All we can really say about the next several months leading up to midterm primaries and kicking off a new election season is that we should expect the unexpected. The new administration has sent the secretary of education to dismantle her own department. They released previously classified files regarding Robert and John F Kennedy’s assassinations. They renamed the Gulf of Mexico. Things that certainly weren’t on many people’s bingo cards when the new president took the oath of office. People will still disagree on how the President does, people will still feel affected in different ways by his policies. But maybe in the next year as we approach the 2026 elections things will start to make sense. Things that people have problems with will be resolved. The country will start to change for the better. A country of over 300 million people is bound to feel different ways about the president and his agenda, but let’s hope that people can feel overall good and optimistic about the direction of the country in a few months.