68 Percent of Economists Surveyed By Wall Street Journal Deem Trump Worse For Inflation Than Harris

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

The Wall Street Journal published a survey on Monday that reported that when it came to inflation , there was one definitive candidate whose economic policy plans would make it worse: former President Donald Trump .

Fifty economists responded to the survey , which took place from October 4-8, 2024. The quarterly survey was last conducted in July — before President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris — and Trump’s numbers pointed to higher inflation then as well:

Of the 50 economists who responded to the survey’s question on inflation, 68% said prices would rise faster under Trump than under Harris. That was up from 56% in July. Only 12% of the economists thought inflation would be higher under a Harris presidency, while the remainder saw no material difference between the candidates.

“Both candidates have policies that are inflationary,” said Dan Hamilton , director of the center for economic research and forecasting at California Lutheran University. But in a change from their July forecast, Hamilton and his colleague Matthew Fienup now see a second Trump term producing faster price increases because of the former president’s tariff plans. “Since July, it became apparent to us that Trump is even more anti-free-trade than Harris,” Hamilton said.

That’s almost seven out of 10 economists saying that Trump’s economic plan would make inflation worse.

Inflation wasn’t the only point where Trump’s numbers were bigger than Harris’s. Last week, WSJ reported “the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates Trump’s plans would widen federal budget deficits by $7.5 trillion over the next decade, more than twice the expected increase under Harris.”