5d ago

Trump to blame for high cost of living, Americans say in new poll

www.theguardian.com

Americans are struggling financially, grappling with debt and the rising cost of living, and are blaming the Trump administration and corporate interests for worsening economic outlooks for working families, according to a new poll.
Six out of 10 Americans place blame on the Trump administration for driving up their cost of living, according to a poll conducted by Morning Consult for the Century Foundation, which asked 2,007 Americans how they are managing the high cost of living in the US economy, who they think is to blame and what are the solutions.
Sixty three per cent said Trump had had a negative impact on grocery prices, and 61% said he had had a negative impact on the cost of living. Nearly half, 49%, said the Trump administration had had a negative impact on their finances. Nearly eight out of 10 Americans, including 70% of Republicans, fear that Trump’s tariffs will increase the price of everyday goods.

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5d ago

Trump to blame for high cost of living, Americans say in new poll

www.theguardian.com /business/2025/aug/01/trump-inflation-cost-of-living-poll

99 comments

It’ll all be fixed in his third term.
- Nah the 3rd term will be pretty mid
  His 4th term will fix all of it though
  Too bad his 6th term will undo all progress
  
  No way the dude lives that long. Trump Jr on the other hand…
  
  By his 6th term he'll be blaming himself again for "bad deals" made by himself without realizing it
  
  It’s doubtful his health will fold out through this term.
- You really think he'll live that long? I get that Kissinger was ancient but, have you seen the ankles on this man?
  
  The worst people live the longest.
- He will fix it In Two Weeks™️
It’s funny, because while he has absolutely contributed to it since January and all throughout his first term, the systemic conditions that yielded our current state have been decades in the making. This is, per usual, the American populace coming to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.
Note that this is absolutely not orangeboi apologia - I’m simply pointing out that this entire sequence got kicked into high gear by Reagan, and pretty much our entire political establishment did nothing to stop it and everything to accelerate it since that point.
- Reagan did such an incredible amount of damage, his presidency was definitely the catalyst for the modern era of suffering and techno feudalism. And with the abolition of the fairness doctrine, he paved the way for many Americans to be brainwashed into accelerating it.
  
  What’s hilarious to me is how my dad and I used to talk about how reagan was a supervillain that kicked off all the shit we are dealing with today. This was maybe 10 years ago.
  Now he no longer speaks to me since I refuse to “take the red pill”.
  So, apparently enough propaganda works.
- Yes.
  The 1950s created the middle class and boomed with prosperity for working class because of government subsidies to the working class. Never before had this occurred in America. Always, prior, it was the industry/corporate class who were supported, and, drum roll, tariffs.
  Then, Reagan flipped the script in the 80s, saying greater efficiency in that prosperity could only happen if we subsidized the corporate/industry class again. And this trickle down economics was born. And never rolled back by DEMs.
  This legacy of corporate subsidy began to squeeze hard -2015, theb exponentially in 2020 and beyond.
  This was not felt much in the 90s. It’s important to realize the lack of immediacy to any of this on the timeline. Including the Trump fallout. He’ll likely be dead of his medical issues and old age before his damage really hits.
  To be fair, the Biden admin did start to roll back a bit of Reagan but 4yrs is never enough time.
  All the good with the FCC, for example, including making internet a necessary utility, like electricity, was wiped, with Trump. Consumer protections roll up, rolled back, with Trump. Attempts to undo trumps education secretary damage in the first term, fouled by Congress, and rolled back entirely by trump. Oh. And tariffs are back. So taxes on everyone at the grocery store and beyond. We can’t even get free shipping on cheap items any more, he removed that too.
  What’s great is full fruition of his damage will still move slowly such that it will only really be felt in full after 4-6yrs.
  The fact that billionaires even exist now shows how absolutely wrong Reagan was with trickle down.
  A middle class cannot exist organically in capitalism. Capitalism needs to be tempered by regulation and subsidies to working class or we end up here.
- I mean with regards to this poll, yes and no. Look at the question framing. For some questions this is true but a lot don't really leave space for that mistake:
  Did trump have a negative affect on grocery prices?
  Did trump have a negative affect on your finances prices?
  Will Trump's tarrifs increase the price of every day goods?
  These don't ask if Trump or his administration is responsible for high grocery prices or CoL or the financial climate, just if he has helped or worsened it. Other questions are pretty clear in their separation from this specific administration:
  Do you believe Corporations or billionaires have had an active role in making life more difficult for average people over the past 25 years?
  Do you believe congressional Republicans or congressional Democrats have made life more difficult?
  A lot of the other questions just have to do with how anxious people feel about finances or the concerns they have and doesn't really ask about any politicians at all.
  Of course you are absolutely right that, in general, people have an astonishingly and consistently short memory resulting in attributing current problems to current politicians but I dunno if this poll is really indicative of that.
- Yes, Reagen is considerably more responsible for the current economic landscape than orange man. Consumer culture is an even bigger contributor to the disparity in wealth than any politician.
  But tribalism is strong on both sides, while both sides want to believe they're above it.
  It really puts into perspective how 'intelligent' the average person is these days.
  
  What it puts into perspective is how well the corporate media proganganda machine works… and it’s all of them… bbc npr, fox, cnn, msnbc…. All of them.
  
  We know that all the lead we imbibed before they removed it from most fuels didn't help.
Well no shit a kindergarten racist gets in and shit goes wrong what did you expect.
If only we were so wise back in 2024.
- If only we were so wise back in ~~2024~~2016.
  
  If only you were so wise 45 years ago and kicked Reagan to the curb.
  
  If only we were so wise to stop Reconstruction.
- i think people knew. the lack of wisdom was that they didn't go out to vote
  
  Trump still would have won in 2024 even if everyone had turned out to vote, Pew finds
  https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5447450/trump-2024-election-non-voters-coalition
The most incredible is that there is still american people who, when they see the cost increase of something because of tariff, ask why the originated country like Canada/China/name it didn't pay the tariff? And someone explain to them that tariff are paid by the final customer, not the manufacturer in the country of origin, and they answer something like "isn't this illegal?"
- I just wonder what the tariff money will be used for. I'd expect it to the tax cuts for the ultra rich
  
  The recent budget bill massively increased the deficit.
  
  Yes I think this is the plan, didn't trump gov said it already, that tariff are to finance tax cut? Tariffs basically collect billions of $ from millions of people to finance gov programs, this is a tax, and the 0.01% keep their billions $ for themselves.
Guess about 40% of the country is just completely off the rails hopelessly stupid from these polls.
- That percent gets their information from propaganda networks and those networks are subsidized by russia. Without that malignant influence they'd collapse very rapidly. Yet liberal democracies cant seem to find the political will to shut those networks down. It's weird how US oligarchs and Russia oligarchs have a lot of overlapping goals. I still dont understand why they hate lgbtq+2sp
  
  Hatred is a strong emotion, and it keeps the rabble fixated and obsessed on non issues with easy “wins.” It’s not really that they even care about queer people, it’s that they know stupid people enjoy having a group they have permission to abuse.
  
  I don't know why they hate anyone with a wallet, why discriminate, money is money, you'd think they'd be kind to people being so fortunate and having anything they want but that's not the case, so the clearly have deep mental issues. Why does it seem like the richer people get the more and more they want? It's a sickness, these people are sick in the head. I would go so far as to say they are barely human anymore. They should be exiled for the good of humanity.
  
  That percent gets their information from propaganda networks and those networks are subsidized by russia.
  But you, clearly, are super duper immune to propaganda and use nothing but facts.
  You've got a RFK Jr sized worm in your brain, except yours is still alive and munching along.
  Yet liberal democracies cant seem to find the political will to shut those networks down.
  Because ... and work with me here... it exists only in your propaganda-addled brain.
- Conservativism is a cancer that needs to be excised before it kills the host. First the US, then humanity.
- It's so baffling to see that number.
  You'd think it was majority percentage where I live.
- The disparity in wealth wasn't any better under Biden.
  
  I wasn't paying pointless tariffs under Biden, so my buying power is lower under Trump.
  Cost increases (like those caused by Trump's trade war) hurt working class people like me more than rich people because it's a larger portion of our income that we're losing when there are no alternatives for necessary foreign products.
  I was financially better off under Biden and, if you're American, you probably were too.
  
  No but inflation was lower and we weren't paying idiotic tariffs
  
  He's not the president, get over it.
  
  the projections for where they are going were better under biden. not great, but far worse under trump.
  
  The disparity in wealth wasn’t any better under Biden.
  It's worse now. A part of that is due to natural developments (worsening job markets due to AI), but a large part is because trump fails to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, thus halting the circulation of money and stifling the economy.
  money is like blood in a human, it needs to flow in circles. it cannot only go from bottom to top. there needs to be redistribution from the top to the bottom for the blood to continue to flow. only then can the organism survive.
The tariffs have not even shown their effects yet. Wait till next year and you will see people burning down the White House.
- Wait till next year and you will see people burning down the White House.
  Ooh, are we throwing an apology party for the Canadians?
  
  Apology and invite accepted. ;)
- Hahahahaha.... somehow the people I work with will be blaming Obama still.
  
  Americans are in general stupid. I can say that because they elected Trump.
Class conflict never ending.
He got in to reduce grocery prices, and they are UP 2.7% from a year ago, when Biden was president. Good job, psychopath.
All of this mess is on HitlerPig, I don't want to hear anything about Biden, Obama, Hillary, etc.
Nearly eight out of 10 Americans, including 70% of Republicans, fear that Trump’s tariffs will increase the price of everyday goods.
I fear how the the prices are going to go. It's why I've been trying to garden this year and will continue next year to try to cut down on food costs. Also doing everything I can.
But what I find hi-larious about the 70% of republicans is right now at my job I'm mostly surrounded by republicans and I'm doing way better than most of them. But part of that is I drive a shitbox car, eat cheap as possible, live in a house where my payments are cheap as fuck (that one I got lucky on timing on, but when asked if I'm going to move somewhere bigger I laugh my ass off.) I've lived within my means especially with it took me nearly 20 years to break $15 an hour, and that was a pandemic doing it, and when I broke out I've been working at keeping myself okay, not just going out and putting down money on a truck that payments cost more than my mortgage.
There's going to be a lot of people hurting on all sides, but I'll at least help the people that tried to stop it. Those temporarily embarrassed millionaires that voted for this shit won't get a handout from me for how much they whined about handouts.
When he said "drain the swamp" he didn't specify that to him, the swamp is the American people.
The best part is Trump has been manipulating the market since this tariff debacle started.
Anyone said “Maybe he ain’t the brightest” yet? Just asking for a friend. B/c they don’t want to get deported to a real crap hole. I’m curious about these new ICE recruits. I heard that if you waterboard them, they begin telling they mama’s life story.
- Trump is DEFINITELY smarter than the ICE recruits.
There will be two years of hardship and the rest of the world will come up with a new trade infrastructure which will finally bring back some prosperity and Trump will say..."See? I told you I could do it.".
He’s to blame for a lot of things.
Dickhead dictator with a tiny dick that's bigger than his intellect.
Nearly eight out of 10 Americans, including 70% of Republicans, fear that Trump’s tariffs will increase the price of everyday goods.
The money that the federal government rises through import tariffs (import taxes) should be redistributed to the people sothat the people can buy american-made products with it.
- lol. That will never happen. Unless the people are billionaires.
- republicans not afraid enough to vote against him though, and the people taking these polls? boomers or gen z.
Welp, you lot either voted for it or didn't bother to vote at all, so you'll excuse me whilst I play the world's tiniest violin.
I blame consumerism.
- here, here! We simply need to stop eating. that'll show em!
  
  I guess you don't know what consumerism means, or you're not willing to admit its drawbacks because you're a part of it.
- i used to be pretty anti-consumerism too, but a certain bit of consumerism is needed to keep the economy running. otherwise the economy is like a dead wasteland with lots in houses in it, but nothing grows.

99 comments