President Donald Trump’s boasts about the economy have fallen apart as a new survey reveals half of the country is struggling to pay for food—and many of his own voters blame him for it.
Despite a growing mountain of surveys suggesting Trump’s claims about the state of the economy are pure bluster, the 79-year-old continues to rate his work very highly. In an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns released Tuesday, he was asked to grade himself on his work to date.
And despite many Americans still being unable to afford basic necessities and growing increasingly insecure about money, he immediately declared: “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”
Later Tuesday, Trump clung to a podium during a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania and full-throatedly told Americans that the affordability crisis is a “hoax.”
But within hours of his self-declaration of brilliance, a new survey revealed that the crisis Trump had just publicly dismissed is actually worse than many realized: Half of Americans are struggling to pay for food.
The Politico Poll, conducted by Public First, also found that a whopping 55 percent of Americans blame the Trump administration for soaring costs. Of that cohort, 22 percent were Trump’s own voters.
The figures clearly don’t line up with Trump’s “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade.
Elsewhere in the survey, 27 percent of Americans said they have skipped a medical appointment in the past two years because of the cost. Thirty-seven percent said attending a professional sports game with family or friends is now out of reach financially. And 46 percent said they cannot afford a vacation that requires flying.
Health-care prices are on track to get exponentially worse with the expiration of Obamacare tax credits that help millions of Americans pay for health insurance. Trump has pushed to let those subsidies expire at the end of the year, without offering a coherent plan to address the skyrocketing prices that will come as a result.
Luxuries like sports games and destination holidays, too, remain out of reach for many Americans. Trump has appeared unmoved by calls for him to tackle rising prices—even when his own supporters appeal to him.
In his recent interview with Politico, Trump was asked to respond to a MAGA loyalist who complained of economic turmoil. The voter, from Pennsylvania, gave the president an “A-plus-plus” overall, but said groceries, utilities, insurance and the basic cost of running a business are rising “faster than wages.” She lamented that not enough was being done to remedy that.
Trump seemed more interested in his grade, declaring that he “loves” the voter for giving him an “A-plus-plus,” before launching into a tired refrain about his predecessor, Joe Biden, being to blame for high prices. “I inherited a mess,” he said.
The poor polling on the economy is piling up for Trump, and Democrats are seizing on it, with decisive victories in state and local elections last month powered, in part, by a focus on prices. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in mid-November, for example, put Trump’s overall approval at 38 percent, his lowest yet, driven by broad anger over rising prices and cost-of-living pressures.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index (ECI) fell seven points to -30 in November, the lowest since a -35 reading in July 2024.
Trump, meanwhile, doesn’t appear sold on the whole affordability message. He called it a “hoax” during his Pennsylvania speech and has also described it as a “fake narrative” and “con job” created by Democrats.
During the campaign-style event, Trump admitted that his aides had pressed him to stay on the topic of affordability, but he instead went off on a tangent about the border and launched a vitriolic attack on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The White House has been asked to comment.
