{"id":97012,"date":"2026-10-31T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=97012"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T01:12:27","slug":"high-inflation-haunts-trump-and-republicans-on-eve-of-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/high-inflation-haunts-trump-and-republicans-on-eve-of-election\/","title":{"rendered":"High inflation haunts Trump and Republicans on eve of election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"High<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the final Tuesday before the midterm election, President Trump found himself in Corpus Christi, Texas, musing aloud about the political forces that had propelled his return to office two years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got elected because of high prices,\u201d he told rallygoers in a state that has become the site of an unexpectedly close Senate race. Then the president turned his ire toward Democrats: \u201cI didn\u2019t have the high prices. They had the high prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mr. Trump, that previous source of political strength now threatens to topple Republicans in 2026. The fate of the party\u2019s control of Congress may well hinge on the depth of voters\u2019 fury with the rising cost of living \u2014 and the president\u2019s unmet promises to do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concern among Republicans has been evident as Mr. Trump crisscrosses the country in an 11th-hour campaign sprint. He has tried to present the economy as strong, growing and rife with new investment, while downplaying the fact that inflation has clearly worsened under his party\u2019s stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering a final snapshot on the state of the economy before Election Day, a set of government reports on Thursday confirmed some of Mr. Trump\u2019s claims and undercut others. The data showed that the economy was indeed expanding at a faster clip, with a key measure of its total output increasing at a 3.4 percent annual rate this summer. But prices also accelerated, rising more rapidly in September compared with a year earlier, and continuing to outpace wage gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Mr. Trump\u2019s message contrasted with the experience of voters, who see the harsh realities of a high-cost economy every day \u2014 when they fill up their gas tanks, shop for groceries, pay their health insurance premiums, receive their credit card bills and confront the difficulties of homeownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having weathered almost two years of high tariffs, geopolitical discord and other economic shocks, voters seem inclined to exact another round of political vengeance at the ballot box, or so the latest polls suggest. Depending on the extent of that rebuke, it could strip Republicans of their congressional majority and curtail Mr. Trump\u2019s economic ambitions for the rest of his presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomas J. Philipson, an economist at the University of Chicago who advised Mr. Trump during his first term, attributed some of the price increases to what he described as laudable goals, including the attempt to disarm Iran. He added that the economy showed plenty of signs of strength despite the sour national mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he added, \u201cpeople don\u2019t keep track of aggregate statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey go to the grocery store every week, and they go to the gas station maybe every other week, and they are upset about that,\u201d Mr. Philipson said. \u201cPeople are still upset at those price increases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than any other economic issue, it was soaring costs under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that helped sweep Republicans into power in 2024. On the day of his inauguration, Mr. Trump committed to \u201cmarshal\u201d the whole of government to \u201crapidly bring down costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By that point, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index had fallen to about 3 percent, and many experts believed it would continue to decline from the heights of the pandemic. Instead, prices began to increase as Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda catalyzed a series of costly economic shocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bid to boost domestic manufacturing, the president imposed withering tariffs on imports. Frequently challenged in court and recalibrated, the ever-changing duties raised revenue yet made foreign goods more expensive for U.S. purchasers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoping to spur more investment, the president also sought to unwind a bevy of regulations, and he clinched a package of tax cuts that offered substantial savings for businesses. But the law also worsened the federal debt, which topped $40 trillion under Republicans\u2019 watch. That helped to make government borrowing \u2014 and, with it, consumer borrowing \u2014 more expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same law set in motion cuts to federal food and health benefits for low-income families. While it helped to lower tax bills for some Americans, the effect may have been less noticeable, as the war with Iran sent energy prices higher. The conflict, now in its ninth month, has ricocheted across the global economy, raising the costs of airfares, farming, heating, shipping and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, many staples of American life \u2014 gasoline, groceries, health insurance, mortgages and more \u2014 have become more expensive this year. Overall, the price increases have also outpaced workers\u2019 hourly wages, according to the government, compounding the financial toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, the economy on the whole has its bright spots. Hiring has been sluggish but stable, markets are riding high and consumers are continuing to spend. That spending, a major driver of overall growth, rose at a 3.8 percent annual clip in the third quarter, according to the data released on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That suggests Americans still have some amount of confidence that their financial footing is sound. Yet voters have also signaled \u2014 in political polls and in economists\u2019 surveys \u2014 that their mood remains grim with the election just days away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data \u201cpoints to an economy that is running pretty strong,\u201d said Satyam Panday, the chief U.S. economist for S&P Global Ratings. \u201cThe only sore spot in the economy is inflation, and I think despite the strong consumption and growth, you\u2019ve got this pessimism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Jacquez, a former aide to Mr. Biden now serving as senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research at Groundwork Action, a liberal group, said the \u201cconundrum\u201d facing Mr. Trump this November bore some resemblance to the forces that swept Democrats out of power last time. Both parties sought to convince voters that the economy was on better footing because of their policies \u2014 only to incur their wrath, despite the gains, because of unchecked costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you make a promise to get elected to bring down prices, and fail to do so, I really think that\u2019s going to be the only number that matters,\u201d Mr. Jacquez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the waning moments of the 2026 race, Mr. Trump and his aides have responded to the backlash with a mixture of optimism and dismissal. They have promised anew that they can bring down costs quickly, while denying at times that there is a problem at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Fox Business on Thursday, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said that \u201creally huge\u201d growth figures from last quarter reflected a strong economy under Mr. Trump. He said the uptick in output was also putting \u201cdownward pressure on prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can pick and choose specific prices and say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m very frustrated about that,\u2019 and it\u2019s a legitimate concern, a legitimate feeling, but as an economist, you\u2019ve got to look at things in the aggregate,\u201d Mr. Hassett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only days earlier, though, Mr. Hassett described the concerns around an affordability crisis as a \u201cmyth.\u201d That echoed Mr. Trump\u2019s oft-stated belief during the 2026 campaign that the affordability issue was a \u201choax.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a sign of Republicans\u2019 vulnerability, the president has ramped up his appearances in the final stretch of the election, even appearing in states like South Carolina and Texas, which were once seen as safer political terrain for Republicans. Having previously described the economy as a \u201cpublic relations\u201d problem, the president mounted a heightened effort to recast its strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, we got inflation down,\u201d he claimed at a rally in Michigan on Sunday, while greatly understating the nation\u2019s inflation rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days later, in Lubbock, Texas, Mr. Trump insisted that gas prices had fallen, even though they were more than $1 per gallon higher than they were on the day he took office, according to AAA. By Thursday, he was in Rock Hill, S.C., hailing what he described as better-than-expected growth numbers and an economy that was \u201cbooming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the crowd, as he spoke, a smattering of signs nevertheless read: \u201cLOWER PRICES.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n