Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Annie Baxter

An HR professional dreads a recession. An entrepreneur hopes a 30 percent slump in his business will recover. And an unemployed single mom is feeling “terrified.”

Many Minnesotans are experiencing economic uncertainty — but some are also feeling confident that things will turn around soon.

As President Donald Trump nears the milestone of his first 100 days in office, MPR News talked to voters around the state to see how they are faring economically under the Trump administration and how they rate the president’s job performance so far.

Economic pain and worry were common themes in their remarks. But Minnesotans’ tolerance of their economic discomfort varied dramatically, often tied to whether or not they support Trump.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s terrifying,” said Samantha Herd, a human resources professional in St. Paul, who said economic conditions seem to be deteriorating. “I know our company has suffered from it. I’ve had to do quite a few layoffs.”

Herd, who does not support Trump, fears that a recession is in the future and is trying to insulate herself financially. She said she’s working from home at least one day a week to save money on gas and is holding a garage sale soon, both to purge clutter and make some extra money.

Meanwhile, Dave Stoltman, owner of a liquidation business in Winona, is trying to get his head around why his business is down 30 percent since the beginning of the year.

“I think a lot of it is the uncertainty. You know, nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen,” he said.

Stoltman, who voted for Trump, said the president is trying to do too much, too fast, laying off tens of thousands of federal workers, and hitting goods from some major trading partners with tariffs while pausing tariffs aimed at other countries.

“Are these employees going to come back? Is the economy going to come back? The tariffs, what are they going to end up being?” he asked.

That said, Stoltman still applauds the general thrust of Trump’s efforts to trim the federal workforce and is willing to give him time to figure things out.

“I still support him,” he said.

Inflation at the local and national level has been moderating and now sits close to the 2 percent rate that the Federal Reserve Bank sets as a target.

But many Minnesotans are struggling with elevated prices and are retrenching, trying to buy less stuff. Nationally, consumer sentiment plunged between March and April, as measured by a closely watched survey. The drop was fueled by concerns about trade policy and its potential to push inflation higher. Many household goods come from China, whose products Trump has hit with 145 percent tariffs.

Brandon Doty of Bemidji works as an installer for an office furniture and equipment company. He said prices already feel high “and they’re just getting higher.”

“Every time I have to get something done, it seems like it’s gone up another 50 bucks,” he said. “I just had to get my septic tank pumped, and it went from $155 to $220.”

Doty said he recently cancelled a trip to Las Vegas to save money and is generally trying to pinch pennies.

But Doty, who has supported Trump in three elections, is willing to give the president time to sort things out and was not surprised by the tariff moves.

“He said he was going to do these things, and now he’s doing them. I respect someone who follows through,” said Doty.

Doty said elevated prices cannot be fixed overnight. “It’s going to take some time.”

Truman Vang of St. Paul voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Like many Minnesotans, he said grocery prices still feel uncomfortably high.

“Things are getting, I don’t want to say worse, but harder,” he said.

In the past few months, Vang said he has been more cautious about his spending.

“I even use my shampoo bottles and things like that to the last drop, because I can’t go out and just buy it like how I used to,” he said.