{"id":887108,"date":"2026-01-22T20:27:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/news-analysis-trumps-math-problem-rising-prices-falling-approval-ratings\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T20:27:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:27:42","slug":"news-analysis-trumps-math-problem-rising-prices-falling-approval-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/news-analysis-trumps-math-problem-rising-prices-falling-approval-ratings\/","title":{"rendered":"News Analysis: Trump’s math problem: Rising prices, falling approval ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>President Trump made dozens of promises when he campaigned to retake the White House last year, from boosting economic growth to banning transgender athletes from girls\u2019 sports.<\/p>\n

But one pledge stood out as the most important in many voters\u2019 eyes: Trump said he would not only bring inflation under control, but push grocery and energy prices back down.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down, and we will make America affordable again,\u201d he said in 2024. \u201cYour prices are going to come tumbling down, your gasoline is going to come tumbling down, and your heating bills and cooling bills are going to be coming down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t delivered. Gasoline and eggs are cheaper than they were a year ago, but most other prices are still rising, including groceries and electricity. The Labor Department estimated Thursday that inflation is running at 2.7%<\/a>, only a little better than the 3% Trump inherited from Joe Biden; electricity was up 6.9%.<\/p>\n

And that has given the president a major political problem: Many of the voters who backed him last year are losing faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI voted for Trump in 2024 because he was promising America first \u2026 and he was promising a better economy,\u201d Ebyad, a nurse in Texas, said on a Focus Group podcast hosted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell. \u201cIt feels like all those promises have been broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Inauguration Day, the president\u2019s job approval has declined from 52% to 43% in the polling average<\/a> calculated by statistician Nate Silver. Approval for Trump\u2019s performance on the economy, once one of his strongest points, has sunk even lower to 39%.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s dangerous territory for a president who hopes to help his party keep its narrow majority in elections for the House of Representatives next year.<\/p>\n

To Republican pollsters and strategists, the reasons for Trump\u2019s slump are clear: He overpromised last year and he\u2019s under-performing now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important reasons he won in 2024 were his promises to bring inflation down and juice the economy,\u201d Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason he won so many voters who traditionally had supported Democrats, including Hispanics. \u2026 But he hasn\u2019t been able to deliver. Inflation has moderated, but it hasn\u2019t gone backward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, after deriding complaints about affordability as \u201ca Democrat hoax<\/a>,\u201d Trump belatedly launched a campaign to convince voters that he\u2019s at work fixing the problem.<\/p>\n

But at his first stop, a rally in Pennsylvania, he continued arguing that the economy is already in great shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur prices are coming down tremendously,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re doing better than you\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he said, implicitly dismissing voters\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

He urged families to cope with high tariffs by cutting back: \u201cYou know, you can give up certain products,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don\u2019t need 37 dolls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, in an interview with Politico, Trump was asked what grade he would give the economy. \u201cA-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the president took another swing at the issue in a nationally televised speech, but his message was basically the same. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we\u2019re the hottest country anywhere in the world. \u2026 Inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican pollster David Winston, who has advised GOP members of Congress, said the president has more work to do to win back voters who supported him in 2024 but are now disenchanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen families are paying the price for hamburger that they used to pay for steak, there\u2019s a problem, and there\u2019s no sugarcoating it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe president\u2019s statements that \u2018we have no inflation\u2019 and \u2018our groceries are down\u2019 have flown in the face of voters\u2019 reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another problem for Trump, pollsters said, is that many voters believe his tariffs are pushing prices higher \u2014 making the president part of the problem, not part of the solution. A YouGov poll in November found that 77% of voters believe tariffs contribute to inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s popularity hasn\u2019t dropped through the floor; he still has the allegiance of his fiercely loyal base. \u201cHe is at his lowest point of his second term so far, but he is well within the range of his job approval in the first term,\u201d Ayres noted.<\/p>\n

Still, he has lost significant chunks of his support among independent voters, young people and Latinos, three of the \u201cswing voter\u201d groups who put him over the top in 2024.<\/p>\n

Inflation isn\u2019t the only issue that has dented his standing.<\/p>\n

He promised to lead the economy into \u201ca golden age,\u201d but growth has been uneven. Unemployment rose in November to 4.6%, the highest level in more than four years.<\/p>\n

He promised massive tax cuts for the middle class, but most voters say they don\u2019t believe his tax cut bill brought them any benefit. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to convince people that they got a tax break when nobody\u2019s tax rates were actually cut,\u201d Ayres noted.<\/p>\n

He kept his promise to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history \u2014 but many voters complain that he has broken his promise to focus on violent criminals. In Silver\u2019s average, approval of his immigration policies dropped from 52% in January to 45% now.<\/p>\n

A Pew Research Center survey in October<\/a> found that 53% of adults, including 71% of Latinos, think the administration has ordered too many deportations. However, most voters approve of Trump\u2019s measures on border security.<\/p>\n

Republican pollsters and strategists say they believe Trump can reverse his downward momentum before November\u2019s congressional election, but it may not be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at what voters care about most, and you offer policies to address those issues,\u201d GOP strategist Alex Conant suggested. \u201cThat starts with prices. So you talk about permitting reform, energy prices, AI [artificial intelligence] \u2026 and legislation to address healthcare, housing and tax cuts. You could call it the Affordability Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA laser focus on the economy and the cost of living is job one,\u201d GOP pollster Winston said. \u201cHis policies on regulation, energy and taxes should have a positive impact, but the White House needs to emphasize them on a more consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople voted for change in 2024,\u201d he warned. \u201cIf they don\u2019t get it \u2014 if inflation doesn\u2019t begin to recede \u2014 they may vote for change again in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

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More to Read <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump made dozens of promises when he campaigned to retake the White House last year, from boosting economic growth to banning transgender athletes from girls\u2019 sports. But one pledge stood out as the most important in many voters\u2019 eyes: Trump said he would not only bring inflation under control, but push grocery and energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":887109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24617,163],"tags":[9435,5123],"class_list":{"0":"post-887108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-analysis","8":"category-trumps","9":"tag-analysis","10":"tag-trumps"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}