The MAGA base is turning on Donald Trump over the cost-of-living crisis, which nearly half of Americans say is the worst they’ve ever seen, a stunning opinion poll reveals.
A staggering 46 percent of all Americans say soaring unaffordability across the United States is firmly the responsibility of the Republican president, the Politico survey found.
And even 37 percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 say they have no memory of things ever being worse than they are right now.
Trump has consistently and repeatedly blamed his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, for the soaring costs happening during his second administration.
That strategy would now appear to be living on borrowed time.
“Voters aren’t going to go, ‘I voted for Trump to better the economy, but Biden just hamstrung [him] too much,’” Arizona Republican strategist Barrett Marson told Politico.
“Voters are going to very quickly forget about Joe Biden and just as quickly turn their ire to Trump unless things get better.”
Even at this relatively early stage of his second stint in the White House, the signs are not good. Trump’s average national approval rating across various polls hovers between highs of just 42 percent and lows of a miserable 38 percent.
The president’s opponents would appear to have smelt blood in the water, with Democratic officials increasingly exploiting voter complaints over the cost of living in campaigns that secured them a wave of victories in a spate of state, local, and gubernatorial races last month.
These notably included the appointment of Democratic governors in New Jersey and Virginia, along with Zohran Mamdani’s thumping win in New York City’s mayoral contest.
That momentum appeared to have been further fueled by a strong Democratic performance in Tennessee’s special congressional election earlier on Tuesday.
While the party’s candidate, Aftyn Behn, lost to Republican Matt Van Epps by nine points, it nevertheless represents a significant dent to GOP support in a deep red state where Trump had otherwise secured presidential votes by a more than 22-point margin last year.
“This is a small warning, but it’s one that Republicans need to understand,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said of those results. “To hold the House in 2026, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
