President Donald Trump is pushing policies which offer cash directly to Americans, though his standing with the electorate on the economy and the cost of living continues sinking to new lows.
Recent proposals include $90 checks for seniors to cope with Medicare premiums, $500 Obamacare "refunds" and a promise of $5,000 should Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress. And on Monday, Trump announced that the Department of Agriculture “(USDA) would be distributing $8 billion as part of a "fuel relief" program for the nation’s farmers, currently struggling amid near-record diesel prices.
These pledges have been made against the backdrop of an approaching election in which "affordability" looms large. But Trump’s general approach to voters’ pocketbook concerns does not appear to be registering with American households.
According to an NBC News Decision Desk poll released Sunday, a record 58 percent disapprove "strongly" of his handling of inflation and the cost of living, up from 44 percent when the question was first asked last April. The total who disapprove either somewhat or strongly has climbed to 73 percent from 60 percent over this period, as the share who approve fell to 27 percent from 40 percent.
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"President Trump began carrying out an aggressive, pro-growth economic agenda on day one, which has been and will continue to deliver tangible wins for the American people," White House spokesman Matthew Middleton told Newsweek in response to a separate poll showing similarly widespread concerns about affordability. He added that Trump was delivering on the promise to stop Joe Biden's "inflation crisis," and said that "there will be more to come in the next two years."
Trump’s Spending Spree
Trump announced on Monday that the farmer fuel relief program would help to "offset diesel costs during this harvest season." The USDA said in a release that the $8 billion will go toward one-time payments for farmers "to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs."
Diesel has remained above $6 per gallon since early September—$6.32 on Tuesday, per AAA—amid Iran war-related supply disruptions and other geopolitical pressures. And farmers have continued to warn that the issue is potentially existential.
John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, previously told Newsweek that he and his fellow farmers "just can't survive" rising diesel costs on top of their other long-running financial struggles. On Tuesday, Boyd told Newsweek that the latest diesel relief had arrived "way too late."
"We had to eat the high cost of fertilizer and other input costs and we are paying through our nose for diesel fuel," he said.
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Meanwhile, Trump’s $90 checks for Medicare premiums began going out to tens of millions of senior Americans on October 8, and the administration initiated the $500 Obamacare refunds in late September.
However, aside from the difficulty the Republican Party will have retaining either the House or the Senate come November 3, many experts and lawmakers doubt that the government will be able to finance $5,000 checks for "every adult citizen" as Trump promised.
Trump’s Record on Affordability
Polling has consistently put the economy, affordability and the cost-of-living as leading concerns for voters. Democrats continue to rely heavily on inflation-related matters in the final stretch of their campaigns, as Trump’s approval on these continues to decline.
The latest NBC News polls surveyed 19,135 U.S. adults between September 28 and October 12, finding that a record 71 percent believe the country is on the "wrong track" and 66 percent disapprove of Trump’s job as president, with economic concerns once again at the center of this pessimism. Though 18 percent said that their own financial situation had improved compared with a year ago, 38 percent said it was about the same and 44 percent consider themselves worse off.
Two thirds (67 percent) described gas prices as a very or somewhat serious issue, and majorities said that "recent economic conditions" have forced them to change or cut back on the groceries they buy (56 percent), travel plans (37 percent) and electricity use (32 percent).
This follows the latest inflation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which revealed that annual inflation had climbed to 3.7 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August, slightly ahead of consensus analyst forecasts.
In the latest Economist/YouGov poll—conducted October 2 to October 5—37 percent of the 1,381 surveyed voters said that inflation was the most important issue in this year’s elections, the top choice and the highest level this has achieved since tracking began in 2022.
However, Trump continues to downplay the political and economic significance of "affordability" in the U.S., putting him at odds with the vast majority of voters who see this as the most salient issue for the country weeks out from the 2026 midterms.
"They use the word affordability, right? It's fake," Trump said on the first night of the Republican National Convention in September. "They are so fake because it was them that caused the affordability—to use their word—crisis." He went on to say that almost all prices were "rapidly going down" on his watch.
And last week, Trump again accused his rivals of being disingenuous when it came to the issue of consumer costs, telling a crowd in Wasilla, Alaska that "every time they want to try and get me, they say affordability."
But Americans of all political persuasions seem to disagree, according to a new Harris Poll conducted for The Guardian, both with the extent of this issue and who currently shoulders the blame. According to the survey, published on October 15, 96 percent of Republicans think the U.S. is in the midst of an affordability "crisis."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Matthew Cannon