Copyright The Boston Globe
President Trump vowed during his 2024 reelection run to “make America affordable again” starting on his first day in office. But most prices aren’t coming down, inflation has moved higher, and Americans remain fed up with the high cost of living. They registered their frustration in Tuesday’s elections: Democrats won big races in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City with campaigns focused on affordability. “New York, tonight you have delivered. A mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford,” Zohran Mamdani told supporters after a historic victory that will make him New York City’s first Muslim mayor and youngest leader in more than a century. Don’t just take a 34-year-old democratic socialist’s word for it. Advertisement “The warning to Republicans in Tuesday’s election results is that Democrats are turning the tables on affordability, especially when they steer clear of leftist cultural snares,” wrote the conservative editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. Inflation has slowed considerably since peaking in 2022, but overall prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index are up 25 percent from just before the pandemic. Food has climbed nearly 30 percent. Rents have risen by the same amount. And piped natural gas bills have soared nearly 47 percent. CPI rose 2.4 percent in September 2024 compared with a year earlier, the slowest pace since the COVID crisis. But by this September the rate had climbed to 3 percent. (The CPI report for October has been delayed by the government shutdown.) Advertisement Trump’s tariffs are partly to blame for the reversal, but their impact has been muted as companies eat some or all of their higher costs. The president’s failure to deliver on his campaign promise of lower prices is hurting his poll numbers. More than 60 percent of respondents disapprove of his handling of inflation, according to the Real Clear Politics average of public polls. His disapproval rating on the economy was 54.8 percent, even though growth was a strong 3.8 percent in the second quarter and layoffs remain relatively low. Denial has been the president’s strategy for dealing with sticky inflation — it remains above the Federal Reserve’s preferred rate. “Our Economy is BOOMING, and Costs are coming way down. Affordability is our goal,” Trump posted to social media Wednesday. Could pocketbook relief be the issue that bridges the ideological gap between progressives like Mamdani and moderate Democrats like Abigail Spanberger, the Virginia governor-elect, and Mikie Sherrill, who won New Jersey’s race for governor? The Democrats clearly hope so. “You all chose leadership that will focus relentlessly on what matters most: Lowering costs, keeping our communities safe and strengthening our economy for every Virginian,” Spanberger said at election-night party. But the pressure is now on her and all Democrats to deliver if they want to carry Tuesday’s modest success into the 2026 midterms. Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com.
