Why The Affordability Crisis Is Likely To Stalk Trump

Last updated 35 minutes ago. Our resources are updated regularly but please keep in mind that links, programs, policies, and contact information do change. On paper, macroeconomic indicators suggest stabilization: inflation has largely cooled to levels approaching the Federal Reserve’s targets. However, the lived experience of the American household tells a different story, one of persistent financial exhaustion and sticker shock that refuses to fade. In a strategy that baffled pundits but delighted his core supporters, President Trump has declared the very concept of an “affordability crisis” to be a “scam,” a “hoax,” and a “con job” perpetrated by... Trump’s comments came as he defended his economic record.

The comments reflected Trump’s focus on tariffs and domestic manufacturing rather than consumer prices. There’s a conundrum around the politics of “affordability.” The issue is that prices are rising while incomes are stagnating, a crushing combination for most people. But there’s little the government can do about either in time for the 2026 midterms, and even the 2028 presidential election. Exacerbating matters, the president and Congress insist on making it worse. President Donald Trump famously promised to lower prices “on Day One” in his 2024 campaign. That was bluster, of course, and to be charitable, he meant he would reduce the rate of inflation.

Yet he’s dead set against the standard way to do it—keeping interest rates elevated to slow demand. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 11 times under Joe Biden, and it worked: inflation slowed from 9 percent to 2.9 percent. But cutting rates won’t satisfy voters, because recent inflation hasn’t disappeared from prices. From December 2019, just before the pandemic, to today, overall prices in America rose 25 percent, including 25 percent increases for eggs, pork, milk, cars and trucks; 30 or 31 percent increases for housing,... The relative bargains—items whose prices increased notably less—have been prescription drugs, up 6 percent; and medical care, gasoline, and potatoes, all up 15 to 17 percent. The government can make some purchases more affordable by subsidizing them, as it often does for health care, energy, and food.

Yet Trump and Congressional Republicans have taken aim at those subsidies, making healthcare less affordable by cutting Medicaid and Obamacare supports, making food less affordable by cutting SNAP benefits, and making energy less affordable... On top of that, Trump’s mindless tariff policies have increased prices on thousands of products. Inescapably, today’s MAGA government is really MALA, Make America Less Affordable. President Donald Trump swept into office with a bold plan to remake America’s economy. But the realities of a persistent affordability crisis, low favorability ratings and biting election losses for his Republican party are forcing him to remake his plan on the fly. Although still in the early stages, Trump’s Plan B appears to be a spaghetti-on-the-wall strategy that includes $2,000 tariff rebate checks, 50-year and portable mortgages and lower tariffs on common grocery items.

Each tactic comes with significant question marks – and some are so radical economists fear they could squeeze Americans’ finances even more. The original Trump economic plan was based on three bold assumptions: For the plan to come to fruition, all three parts had to work perfectly. That’s because each part relied on the other. If one leg of the stool was loose, the whole thing would topple over. MOUNT POCONO, PA ‒ As President Donald Trump touts a rebounding economy and downplays affordability concerns, new polling suggests most Americans aren't seeing the improvements ‒ and some are making significant sacrifices to save...

Findings in a poll released Dec. 11 from the progressive think tank the Century Foundation, shared exclusively with USA TODAY, show rising costs are taking a heavy toll on the American family, with the working class bearing the brunt of... Nearly 3 in 10 of voters polled said they held off getting medical care over the past year because of costs. One-third said they have skipped a meal. Two-thirds of respondents said they are buying cheaper groceries or buying less food, while half said they dipped into savings to cover basic expenses. Cost-of-living hardships are felt most acutely by Americans without college degrees, young Americans, people of color and women, according to the poll.

Less than a year from the 2026 midterm elections, the Century Foundation has briefed several Democrats in Congress on the poll results to counter Trump's assertions that affordability concerns amplified by Democrats are a... President Trump gestures after speaking at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pa., Tuesday. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption In the spring of last year, then-President Joe Biden tried to convince skeptical voters that the struggling economy was healthy. Then-candidate Donald Trump seized on the moment and vowed to lower prices for American consumers, beating his eventual Democratic rival Kamala Harris in part with a winning economic message. Now it's President Trump who's trying to persuade the public that the state of the economy is sound, after prices rose 3% in the 12 months ending in September and with consumers spending less...

Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, says making that argument could be a tall order in the face of rising costs for a number of goods and services. "My personal takeaway from the experience we had [in 2024] was that you can't tell people that prices aren't up when they're up," she said. As the 2026 midterm elections approach, the perceptive and pocketbook-focused American voter is concerned about one thing above all: the cost of living. According to a new report from Goldman Sachs chief U.S. political economist Alec Phillips, this economic frustration has placed President Trump’s aggressive tariff regime in the political and legal crossfire, creating a scenario where trade barriers are likely to come down rather than go... With mid-term elections coming up in March, Phillips notes that the cost of living remains the “top issue of concern to voters,” with a higher percentage citing it now (29%) than ahead of the...

Using data from prediction markets platform Kalshi, Phillips argues that the consensus expectation is that Democrats are “much more likely” to win the House majority next year. There is one overwhelmingly clear choice to make, he adds: “The most obvious policy lever to pull would be tariff reductions.” Whether this occurs is far from certain, as the Trump administration has fiercely defended the tariff regime, even if they keep getting smaller and lower. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently admitted to New York Times Dealbook editor Andrew Ross Sorkin that they are a “shrinking ice cube.” Bessent has said he opposed the tariffs at the beginning of 2025,... Still, Democrats smell blood on the issue. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly urged his party to double down on “affordability,” after his party swept off-year elections in early November, running on the theme.

Candidates from the center (New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill) and the far left (New York City’s Zohran Mamdani) alike made hay on the issue. Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and was a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, argued recently in Bloomberg Opinion that the affordability crisis is... Federal jobs data lend support to Sperling’s argument, with anemic growth setting in from April onward, exactly when Trump rattled markets by announcing a worldwide “reciprocal tariff” regime, which he called “Liberation Day.” The... Bank of America Institute added more context to the picture by showing that small business profitability fell in November for the first time in a year-and-a-half, attributing the price hikes and hiring struggles they’re...

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