With midterms less than a year away, Republicans know the economy – or the public’s perception of the economy – needs to be fixed. At a campaign-style rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, President Trump set out to reassure Americans that the U.S. economy is healthy and that his economic policies are working.
Trump told the crowd, “I have no higher priority than making America affordable again. That’s what we’re going to do. And again, they caused the high prices, and we’re bringing them down. It’s a simple message.”
The President said the economy is recovering from Biden Administration policies, and suggested the affordability issue was created by Democrats for political gain.
“They say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t realize prices are high,'” Trump said of Democrats. “Prices are coming down very substantially. But they have a new word, you know? They always have a hoax. The new word is ‘affordability’.”
Victoria Churchill of the group Young Voices and a reporter with the Daily Mail told CBN’s Faith Nation that Trump miscalculated when he suggested ‘affordability’ is a false narrative.
“I think it was a rare messaging misstep…when he said it was all a Democrat scam because in the past he has also called himself ‘the affordability President,'” Churchill said.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows 56 percent of voters disapprove of how the President is handling the cost of living. And a CBS News/YouvGov poll shows most (60%) Americans say the President makes prices and inflation sound “better than they really are.”
Joe Busuelas, Chief Economist for RSM, says Trump’s “policies haven’t helped. Tariffs and all kinds of trade distortions have caused prices to go up.”
Monday, the administration announced $12 billion in subsidies to help U.S. farmers affected by tariffs and other economic issues.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the numbers show the economy is doing well, telling CBS, “We’ve had four percent GDP growth in a couple of quarters. We’re going to finish the year, despite the Schumer shutdown, with three percent real GDP growth.”
Another problem for Republicans is health care. With Obamacare subsidies set to expire, the average costs for 22 million Americans could more than double on January 1st, next year.
