Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Monday, December 15, 2025

For most voters, the economy and affordability are the big issues and Donald Trump's grade on this keeps dropping. A new AP/NORC poll has Trump's approval rating on the economy at a dismal 31%, his lowest ever. Among all voters, 68% say the economy is in poor shape. Even 44% of Republicans agree with this. Half of Americans say it is harder than usual to afford holiday gifts and half are cutting back on nonessential purchases. A vast majority say groceries and electricity are getting more expensive. Even among Republicans, 40% are hunting for lower prices more than they normally would.

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snip ...

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.

#1 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-12-15 04:00 PM | Reply

snip ...

Another approach the administration is taking is blaming the economy on Biden. Bessent said: "We've got this embedded inflation from the Biden years." Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said: "That Biden-economy hangover is real." But several polls have shown that the voters blame Trump's tariffs, not Biden.

Will things get better next year? People don't think so. About 40% think things will be worse, 30% expect more of the same, and only 20% think things will be better. Having people expecting the future to be no better than the present is never a good sign for an incumbent party in an election year, especially a midterm year. (V)

#2 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-12-15 04:01 PM | Reply

Energy bills in US have increased 13% since pedo 47 took office

abcnews.go.com

#3 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2025-12-15 04:21 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Who the hell needs wind or solar power projects like in China, right?

#4 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-15 04:34 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Meanwhile back at the ranch:

Share of Americans Planning to Spend $1,000+ on Holiday Gifts Hits Record High
www.breitbart.com

#5 | Posted by MSgt at 2025-12-15 05:19 PM | Reply

#5 Breitbart?

You're joking, MaSturbationGetsTough.

Meanwhile, from the exact same source that Breitbart was citing (but conveniently, didn't mention it):

High cost of goods is causing consumers to spend less for the holidays, CNBC survey finds

  • The latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey found the high cost of goods has emerged as a major factor affecting how much shoppers spend and where they spend.

  • Overall, 41% of Americans plan to spend less for the holidays this year, 6 points higher than a year ago.

  • Among those spending less, 46% blame the high cost of goods, a 10-point increase from the 2024 survey.

Why didn't you post that, MaSturbationGetsTough?

#6 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-12-15 05:27 PM | Reply

-Half of Americans say it is harder than usual to afford holiday gifts and half are cutting back on nonessential purchases

We don't need a poll to tell us this.....we get actual data from the retailers on how that's going.

#7 | Posted by eberly at 2025-12-15 05:27 PM | Reply

those are surveys....not actual data, which I presume we don't have yet.

#8 | Posted by eberly at 2025-12-15 05:28 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

The Trump administration has cancelled or delayed multiple key economic reports, including the advance estimate of third-quarter 2025 GDP, the October jobs report, the October inflation report (CPI), and the October Producer Price Index (PPI), citing the prolonged government shutdown as the reason for the data collection failures.

The Trump administration keeps cancelling key economic reports and everyone is suspicious
www.indy100.com

#9 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-15 05:37 PM | Reply

Wow, 2 posts in a row saying exactly zero. Keep it up, dumbass.

#10 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-15 05:39 PM | Reply

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