Copyright Newsweek
President Donald Trump continues to tout what he calls dropping prices under his economic leadership, denying that affordability is a widespread issue facing American households. Over the past few weeks—particularly in the days following the Democrats’ recent election victories—the president has proclaimed that grocery prices “are way down,” inflation has been “defeated” and that discussion of an affordability crisis is a “con job” manufactured by his rivals. But recent data tells a more nuanced story, with prices still rising and polls revealing the significant financial strains a large share of the population says they are facing. Why It Matters A number of experts pointed to Trump’s ability to speak to Americans' economic frustration as a key to his victory in 2024. Early in Trump's second administration, when economic indicators came in weaker than expected, the White House would point fingers at Trump’s predecessor for handing him a shaky economy. However, the U.S. appears to be experiencing similar levels of financial anxiety a year after Trump was elected. After a strong 2025 Election Day, Democrats are setting their sights on 2026 midterms. As economic anxiety continues, they could highlight the issue in trying to take back control of Congress. What To Know In the Department of Labor’s latest reading for September, the headline inflation rate rose to 3.0 percent year-over-year from 2.9 percent in August, reaching its highest level since January as products such as beef and coffee experienced especially significant increases. The core rate, excluding food and energy, ticked down to 3.0 percent from 3.1 percent. Trump told reporters last week that inflation was "down now to 2 percent, and we'll be at maybe 1 percent," but surveys show most Americans remain unconvinced by his claims regarding prices. Over half (55 percent) of U.S. adults see the economy as deteriorating under Trump’s watch, according to a recent Economist/YouGov Poll, while his net approval on inflation and the economy has swung from slightly positive following the inauguration to sharply negative. A separate survey from Monster.com found that 95 percent of Americans say their paychecks have lagged behind the rising cost of living, with 94 percent pointing to groceries as the fastest-rising expense over the past year. “When wages don't cover increased cost of living as workers feel stretched to cover daily living, they're less likely to be able to save for retirement, investing in their kids' future college education (if applicable), and more,” Monster career expert Vicki Salemi told Newsweek. “They may be less likely to feasibly plan to move to a different apartment or house, for instance and get a new mortgage, which ties back to their earning power through their employment.” In a recent ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, conducted in October, 71 percent of Americans said groceries were more expensive compared to last year, despite Trump’s assertion on November 6 that “groceries are way down. Everything is way down.” Trump’s own Department of Agriculture in September predicted that overall food prices will rise by 3.0 percent in 2025, faster than the 20-year historical average of 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, energy costs—often touted by Trump as one of his main achievements—are up 2.8 percent over the past year, according to the Department of Labor’s September inflation report, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that the residential retail prices for electricity rose 6.1 percent year-over-year in August. And, while gas has fallen from $3.125 on the day Trump took office to an average of $3.075, per AAA, this remains well above the $2 level Trump last week promised would arrive “very soon.” What People Are Saying President Donald Trump, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September, said: “Under my leadership, energy costs are down, gasoline prices are down, grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated. The only thing that's up is the stock market, which just hit a record high.” “Prices are down under the Trump administration and they're down substantially,” the president said during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on November 7. “They said, oh, I don't want to talk about affordability,” he continued. “The reason I don't want to talk about affordability is because everybody knows that it's far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told Newsweek: “Cleaning up Joe Biden’s inflation and economic disaster has been a top focus for President Trump since Day One, when he signed an array of executive orders to unleash American energy and slash costly regulations.” “The Administration since then has been implementing a robust economic agenda to lower prices for essentials like gas and eggs and cool inflation to an annualized 2.5 percent rate—half the average inflation rate under Joe Biden,” he added, referencing the rate of consumer price index (CPI) growth between January and September. Jared Bernstein, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration, told Bloomberg Trump was making a “foundational, fundamental error here by trying to tell people they’re better off than they think.” “I think the thing that's going on here is that President Trump often is able to persuade his followers of his reality, even if that reality isn't backed up by the facts,” Bernstein added. “But I feel very firmly that that particular superpower of this president, who really is an effective communicator to his followers, simply doesn't work when it comes to affordability.” What Happens Next With the government shutdown potentially drawing to a close, official data releases on inflation and jobs are set to resume, though reports on the CPI and nonfarm payrolls are expected to face delays as agencies work to catch up.
