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It was the issue that boosted President Donald Trump and Republicans in the 2024 elections, as they won back the White House and Senate majority and kept control of the House.
But a year later, the economy, and everyday expenses in particular, are working against the president and his party.
Democrats, with an across-the-board focus on affordability, outperformed at the polls as they enjoyed sweeping success at the ballot box in the 2025 elections earlier this month.
And a new Fox News national poll released on Wednesday evening is another warning sign for Trump and the GOP.
FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY WHITE HOUSE IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD ON ECONOMY
Three-quarters of voters questioned in the survey, which was conducted Friday through Monday, viewed the economy negatively, and large numbers of respondents, including Republicans, said their costs for groceries, utilities, healthcare, and housing have gone up this year.
The poll indicated that voters blame the president, with nearly twice as many pointing fingers at Trump than former President Joe Biden, when asked who is responsible for the current economy.
Only 38% of those questioned gave the president a thumbs up on how he’s handling the economy. And Trump’s overall approval rating, at 41%, is the lowest of his second term in office in Fox News polling.
SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS
“The situation isn’t complicated,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “People are struggling to afford necessities and blaming those in charge. What’s interesting is watching Democrats gain politically from a problem they arguably caused — and that crushed them in 2024. But that’s politics.”
Trump enjoyed some positive economic news on Thursday, with the release of a stronger-than-expected jobs report after several months of weakness.
U.S. employers added 119,000 jobs in September, according to federal government data delayed for weeks due to the government shutdown. But the report also indicated the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 4.4%.
The Fox News survey is the latest national poll to point to political anxiety over the economy.
Jack Heath, the host of a popular statewide news-talk morning radio program in swing state New Hampshire, told Fox News Digital when he interviews congressional candidates and asks them what’s on the minds of voters they meet on the campaign trail, they tell him voters are “talking about how they can’t afford anything. It’s affordability. It’s cost of living.”
“I think there’s a very short window to the midterms where the president needs to…get back to the blue-collar people who are working. They feel optimistic but they’re growing more pessimistic that ‘I’m not keeping as much money as I want to and I’m working hard,'” Heath said, as he referred to next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will defend its congressional majorities.
ELECTION REFLECTION: ‘DEMOCRATS FLIPPED THE SCRIPT’ ON AFFORDABILITY IN BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWNS
Pointing to the 2025 election’s double-digit gubernatorial wins for Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as ballot box showdowns in battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania and left-tilting New York City and California, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said his party’s candidates “are meeting voters at the kitchen table… From New Jersey and Virginia and New York, to Georgia and beyond, Democrats ran campaigns relentlessly focused on costs and affordability.”
Trump, in his first post-2025 election interview, told Fox News’ Bret Baier earlier this month that, on inflation, “We’ve done so much… Energy is way down … We’re going to have $2 gasoline. I did that. That brings everything else down. Groceries are way down, other than beef. Now, beef is going to come down … The fact is, we have prices way down.”
And the president argued in his “Special Report” interview that it’s more of a messaging problem for the GOP. “As Republicans, you have to talk about it.”
But Trump and his team have turned the spotlight since the elections this month on battling high prices.
“We’re making incredible strides to make America affordable again,” Trump said Wednesday.
But the polls suggest Americans aren’t buying the message from the White House.
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“Voters are remarkably consistent in their priorities: the economy, the economy, the economy,” noted Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College.
“When you win an election, voters expect you are going to do something to address those concerns and the reality is that the questions of affordability remain unchanged in their importance to the everyday voter,” Lesperance emphasized.
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