Poll: Americans struggle with prices
Trump touts economy as people report sacrificing
By: Joey Garrison
USA Today
MOUNT POCONO, Pennsylvania - As President Donald Trump touts a rebounding economy and downplays affordability concerns, new polling suggest most American aren't seeing improvements - and some are making significant sacrifices.
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Findings in a poll released December 11 [2025] by 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 but of what the group calls an "affordability crisis."
..... Nearly 3 in 10 of voters polled said they held off on getting medical care over the past year because of cost. One-third said hey have skipped a meal. Two-thirds 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 people without college degrees, young Americans, people of color and women, according to the poll.
..... Trump own in 2024 after campaigning on lowering prices immediately. Yet he's struggled to deliver, and his sweeping tariffs on imports - and refusal to support extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies - have been a part of Democrats; messaging blaming hardening costs on the president's policies.
..... In response, Trump has blamed former President Joe Biden for Americans' affordability challenges, emphasizing that costs are down from the post-pandemic high under his predecessor, and asserted that concerns about money are a "con job" and a "democrat scam."
..... In response to the poll, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told USA Today: "President Trump and every member of his Administration fully inflation crisis left American families behind. Turning the page on the Biden disaster has been a Day One priority for the Trump administaiton."
..... The poll of 1,425 registed voters taken by the Democraitc polling firm GQR from October 14 to October 24 [2025] does not have comparison data from the Biden presidency.
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In recent days, Trump claimed "inflation is essentially gone" and graded the U.S. economy as "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus" as the White House argues an even stronger economy will emerge in 2026. Yet year-over-year inflation remains above pre-pandemic levels - and the poll found two-thirds of Americans believed the economy is not doing well. That include 43% of Americans who voted for Trump in 2024.
..... "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.
..... Marking a return to the road, Trump traveled to Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on December 9 [2025] to launch a tour designed to address the economic concerns of everyday Americans. In his speech, he unleashed a greatest hits of attacks and grievance 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.
....."You know, they always have a hoax," Trump said.
..... "I can't say affordability hoax' because I agree the prices were too high," he later added. "They say, 'Affordability.' And everyone says, 'Oh, that must mean trump has high prices.' No, our prices are coming down tremendously.
..... The Century Foundation poll, however, suggests many Americans are facing a much bleaker economic picture. And Americans are not as optimist as the president about the situation improving, according to the poll, with 82% expecting prices to increase.
..... The poll was taken before the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline in December [2025] dropped below $3 for the first time in four years.
..... Melissa Halstead, a Trump supporter from East Strasbourg, Pennsylvania, who watched the president's speech, called Trump "one of the best presidents we've ever had" and applauded the dip in gas prices. "It would be nice if house prices would come down a little bit. The cost of living here is just astronomical."
..... Keith Transue, a 51-year-old owner of a trucking and logistic company in Mount Pocono, said he's encouraged by cheaper gas and believes costs are no longer"going up exponentially: like previously. Still, he said expenses remain on the rise.
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"I don't think it's halted. I think it's slowed," Transue said shortly before Trump began his speech.
..... Working-class voters without college degrees - the demographic that has long formed Trump's political base - are most likely to feel affordability strains, according to the poll.
..... They were more likely than college-educated votes to say they have skipped a meal (41% to 23%), held off on medical care (34% to 21%), skipped buying medication (30% to 14%) and tapped into savings (54% to 36%).
..... As a result, working-class voters are more likely than college-educated voters to opt for risky "Buy Now, Pay Later" payment mechanisms to spread out purchases (36% to 24%) and payday loans (19% to 10%), the poll found.
..... The working class is also more likely to blame corporations and the wealthy for "rigging the system" against them financially. For example, 31% of working-class voters said health insurance companies denying doctor-prescribed treatments is a major problem compared to 20% of college-educated voters.
..... Both groups in the poll voiced support for policies that take aim at corporations to bring down costs.
..... "People are not just hurting - they're angry," said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of the Century Foundation. "They want accountability."
..... The poll's findings suggest Democrats could have a opening to run on economic populist policies that target corporations and Wall Street - an approach long embraced by the left wing of the party but less so by moderates.
..... "Democrats have an opportunity to prove we are the party that is fighting for the poor and the middle class," said Senator Chris Murphy D-Connecticut, who was among the Democrats briefed on the poll. "But we have to be willing to break up concentrated corporate power and give that peer back to the American people."
..... Contributing: Max Auguliaro, Pocono Record.