{"id":8230,"date":"2025-12-11T19:42:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T19:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/11\/poll-paints-dire-picture-on-affordability-as-trump-touts-economy-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T19:42:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T19:42:41","slug":"poll-paints-dire-picture-on-affordability-as-trump-touts-economy-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/11\/poll-paints-dire-picture-on-affordability-as-trump-touts-economy-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll paints dire picture on affordability as Trump touts economy – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated Dec. 11, 2025, 1:05 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

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MOUNT POCONO, PA \u2012 As President Donald Trump<\/a> touts a rebounding economy and downplays affordability concerns<\/a>, new polling suggests most Americans aren’t seeing the improvements \u2012 and some are making significant sacrifices to save money.<\/p>\n

Findings in a poll released Dec. 11<\/a> from the progressive think tank the Century Foundation<\/a>, 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 what the group calls an “affordability crisis.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Cost-of-living hardships are felt most acutely by Americans without college degrees, young Americans, people of color and women, according to the poll.<\/p>\n

Less than a year from the 2026 midterm elections<\/a>, 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 \u201ccon job\u201d and a “Democrat scam.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump has blamed former President Joe Biden<\/a> for Americans’ affordability challenges, emphasizing costs are down from the post-pandemic high under his predecessor.<\/p>\n

This week, Trump claimed “inflation is essentially gone” and graded the U.S. economy an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus”<\/a> as the White House argues an even stronger economy will emerge in 2026. Yet year-over-year inflation remains above pre-pandemic levels \u2012 and the poll found two-thirds of Americans believe the economy is not doing well. That includes 43% of Americans who voted for Trump in the 2025 election.<\/p>\n

“People are telling us in all kinds of ways the financial pain they’re feeling in their lives,” said Angela Hanks, director of policy programs at the Century Foundation. “You can downplay it, but it doesn’t change how people are experiencing the economy.”<\/p>\n

Americans not as optimistic as Trump about economic turnaround<\/h2>\n

The poll, a survey of 1,425 registered voters taken by the Democratic polling firm GQR<\/a> from Oct. 14 to Oct. 24, does not have comparison data from previous years to evaluate the affordability challenges today versus the Biden presidency.<\/p>\n

Democrats have used affordability as their underlying campaign message en route to overperforming in elections across the country<\/a> and producing double-digit wins in the off-year gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. Democrats are set to double down on affordability in the 2026 midterms, when they hope to regain control of the House and Senate during Trump’s final two years in the White House.<\/p>\n

Marking a return to the road, Trump traveled to Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9 to launch a tour designed to address the economic concerns of everyday Americans. In a 95-minute speech inside a casino ballroom<\/a>, Trump unleashed a greatest hits of attacks and grievances while insisting prices are on the decline. He mocked “affordability” as a campaign issue manufactured by Democrats who he said were responsible for prices spiking under Biden.<\/p>\n

“They have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is ‘affordability.’ So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability,'” Trump said.<\/p>\n

“I can’t say ‘affordability hoax’ because I agree, the prices were too high,” Trump later added. “So I can’t go to ‘hoax’ because they’ll misconstrue that. But they use the word affordability and that’s their only word. They say, ‘Affordability.’ And everyone says, ‘Oh, that must mean Trump has high prices.’ No, our prices are coming down tremendously.”<\/p>\n

\"Supporters<\/figure>\n

The Century Foundation poll, however, suggests many Americans are facing a much bleaker economic picture:<\/p>\n