‘We Are Struggling’: 82% Say Inflation Persists Under Trump — Including Most Republicans

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday, 82% of Americans say inflation persists under President Donald Trump — including most Republicans — with one GOP-leaning voter adding, “We are struggling.”

The poll, which surveyed 4,638 adults from Feb. 18-23, asked participants to reply yes or no to a range of statements. To “there is hardly any inflation in the U.S.,” 82% of all adults responded no, along with 72% of Republicans and 93% of Democrats.

To “the U.S. economy is booming,” 68% said no — 43% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats agreed, voting in the negative.

“The economy is what he needs to be focused on,” said 53-year-old Marcus Tripp, who leans Republican, of the president. Talking with Reuters after completing the poll, the Dickson, Tennessee resident added, “Even as a two-income household, we are struggling… I am worried more about how much my rent and everything is going up than I am about whether the guy down the street has citizenship documents or not.”

A Trump 2024 voter, Tiffany Ritchie of Corpus Christi, Texas, told Reuters, “I’m not impressed by what’s going on domestically… We’re not going to tariff our way out of this.”

The poll offers a stark contrast to Trump’s Tuesday State of the Union address, in which he touted, “The [former President Joe] Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. But in 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years. And in the last three months of 2025, it was down to 1.7%.”

He continued:

Mortgage rates are the lowest in four years and falling fast, and the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 just since I took office. One year. And low interest rates will solve the Biden-created housing problem while, at the same time, protecting the values of those people who already own a house that really feel rich for the first time in their lives. We want to protect those values, we want keep those values up. We’re going to do both. And we are going to keep it that way!

The stock market has set 53 all-time record highs since the election. Think of that, one year. Boosting pensions, 401Ks, and retirement accounts for the millions and millions of Americans. They’re all gaining. Everybody is up, way up! In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe. Think of it, much less than $1 trillion for four years versus much more than $18 trillion for one year. What a difference a president makes. A short time ago, we were a dead country! Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world! The hottest!

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