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Interestingly enough, the poll results are very similar to an AP/NORC poll in Dec. 2022, when Joe Biden was president. The key word was "inflation" then rather than "affordability," but in both cases what people meant was they were struggling economically.

Donald Trump's response is a planned road trip in which he will barnstorm the country to tell voters that their observation that prices are up is wrong and the economy is great. Telling them to get their daughters two pencils and three dolls (instead of 37) is not likely to put many people (except Democratic strategists) at ease. Yesterday, on Face the Nation, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent responded to the polls by blaming the media for giving everyone the idea that people are having a rough time. As proof, he noted that gas prices are falling. Michael Strain, an economist at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute said that Joe Biden tried the same approach and it didn't work for him and won't work for Trump. Adding to Trump's tone-deafness is a cabinet full of billionaires and his focus on building a $300 million ballroom paid for by more billionaires at a time when regular people are suffering.