New Politico Poll Shows Americans, Even GOP Voters, Are Blaming Trump For The Affordability Crisis

(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A new poll shows Republicans and Democrats alike are blaming President Donald Trump for the high cost of living that shows no signs of ending.

Politico’s poll surveyed 2,098 U.S. adults polled over a four-day period, Nov. 14-17, and asked about affordability in the U.S.

“Almost half — 46 percent — say the cost of living in the U.S. is the worst they can ever remember it being, a view held by 37 percent of 2024 Trump voters. Americans also say that the affordability crisis is Trump’s responsibility, with 46 percent saying it is his economy now and his administration is responsible for the costs they struggle with,” wrote Politico of its findings.

Some 53 percent of Kamala Harris (D) voters said the current cost of living “is the worst” they’ve ever experienced.

Politico called the trend “a growing warning sign for Republicans ahead of next year’s midterms: Some of the very groups that powered Trump’s victory last year are showing signs of breaking from that coalition,” all due to the high cost of living.

GOP strategist Ford O’Connell cited this week’s Tennessee congressional race, in which MAGA Republican Matt Van Epps eked out a win against progressive Aftyn Behn (D).

“This is a small warning, but it’s one that Republicans need to understand, is that to hold the House in 2026, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort,” O’Connell said.

Trump has continued to rage against what he calls the Democrats’s affordability “con job.” At this week’s Cabinet meeting, Trump claimed, “There is this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about, affordability. They just say the word. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody. Just say it: Affordability — I inherited the worst inflation in history! There was no affordability; nobody could afford anything.”

Trump added, “The word affordability is a con job by the Democrats.”

“I watched the other day where some very low IQ congresswoman talked about ‘affordability, affordability, affordability!’ She had no idea, their prices were much higher,” Trump claimed.

A White House spokesperson said it’s still too early in Trump’s second term to judge the economy as solely his.

“President Trump is just getting started implementing the policies that created historic economic prosperity in his first term, and Americans can rest assured that the best is yet to come,” said Kush Desai.

The Politico poll was conducted by Public First and has a sampling error of +/- 2 percentage points.