Reuters Poll: 78% of Americans Blame Trump for Rising Cost of Living

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that approximately 78% of Americans hold President Donald Trump's policies responsible for rising prices at a pace faster than their income growth. The survey also revealed that majorities of both Republicans and Democrats consider the cost of living their biggest concern ahead of the congressional midterm elections scheduled for next month.

57% of supporters of the Republican Party, to which Trump belongs, said costs are rising faster than their wages. This is a clear indicator of how his policies, such as imposing tariffs on imports and the Iran war, conflict with his main 2024 election pledge to eliminate inflation and lower prices "from day one."

Curbing price hikes

However, inflation has risen to a level that pushed the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) to raise interest rates to curb price increases. Monetary policymakers attributed these rises to a variety of factors, including higher global energy costs following the outbreak of the Iran war and the high tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Concerns related to the economy and the war have caused Trump's overall popularity to drop to unprecedentedly low levels, negatively impacting support for the Republican Party before the elections scheduled for November 3, which will determine the party controlling Congress for the next two years.

About a quarter of Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Trump's management of the economy, a figure that rose to 63% among independents and 92% among Democrats.

Dissatisfaction was greater regarding inflation, with 68% of those surveyed and 40% of Republicans expressing disapproval.

Poll participants cited the cost of living as the most important issue in their voting decisions. 54% of participants, including 40% of Republicans, said they felt it had increased significantly over the past year, compared to 30% who said it had increased only slightly and 10% who said it had not changed.

Nearly 78% of poll participants, including 64% of Republicans and 76% of independents, stated that part of the responsibility lies with the White House, as most Americans view tariffs as an important cause of rising prices.