The White House is reportedly panicking as President Donald Trump’s approval ratings slide amid mounting concerns over the cost of living.
The 80-year-old president has repeatedly dismissed the affordability crisis as a “hoax.” But with just over two months until the midterm elections, Trump administration insiders say his team is stressing about internal polling showing that grocery prices rank among Americans’ biggest cost-of-living worries, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing administration officials and people close to the White House.
Trump has faced scrutiny over his handling of the economy during his second term in office. Bringing down grocery prices was one of Trump’s central promises during the 2024 campaign, but persistently high costs have frustrated Americans. The president has been saddled with grim approval ratings, with voters pointing to his handling of the economy as a major source of dissatisfaction.
“The White House understands prices are too high, and we’ve got to do everything in our power to make it look like, ‘Hey, we understand your problem, and we’re out there, and we’re going to do everything we can to bring prices down between now and Election Day,’” a person close to the White House told Politico.
The president appears to be at least somewhat aware of the political risks the affordability crisis poses to his party’s midterms prospects. Last week, in an apparent bid to ease voter frustration over soaring food costs, Trump unveiled a proposal to temporarily remove duties on 300,000 metric tons of imported beef, claiming the move would help bring down prices for American consumers.
“Today, I concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“As everyone knows, under President Biden, beef prices soared at their fastest rate and the American beef herd fell to its smallest size in modern history.
“As we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff,” Trump continued.
The president promised that the deal would “reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”
But the move may not translate into significantly cheaper supermarket prices before voters head to the polls, Politico reported. It also caught some cattle producers off guard.
“We were blindsided by the announcement,” Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, a trade group representing cattle producers, told Politico. “We had no inkling that the president was going to continue on that same path that he was on earlier and appeared to have withdrawn, and now he’s right back at it again.”
White House aides are now “increasingly focused on an affordability message” ahead of the midterms, even if that means they anger American ranchers, who are an important voting bloc for Trump, according to the publication.
“It had to have come to that it was broad enough in appeal that they said, ‘OK, it’s worth the hit on farmers and ranchers in these swing states — like we get more bang for our buck,’” a second person close to the White House said.
The president’s efforts to convince Americans that his economic agenda is delivering results continue to frustrate many of his own voters, according to polling.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that the Democratic Party has widened its lead over the GOP on cost-of-living issues. When asked which party is better equipped to address affordability, voters favored Democrats over Republicans by 8 percentage points.
The same Reuters/Ipsos poll showed more bad signs for Republicans. Trump’s approval rating was at 33 percent—the lowest of his term.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
