A new poll from Quinnipiac University found that a majority of respondents believe President Trump is more responsible for the state of the economy than former President Biden.
The poll, released Wednesday, found that 57 percent of respondents put the state of the economy at Trump’s feet, while 34 percent said Biden is more responsible for the economy, and 10 percent did not offer an opinion.
The results track with Americans’ growing affordability concerns, including among the president’s own supporters.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to tackle cost of living issues and lower inflation, which peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022 and sat at 3 percent in January 2025.
In September, inflation hit 3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — a full percentage point above the Federal Reserve’s preferred target. Food and energy prices, meanwhile, were up 3.1 percent and 2.8 percent in September, respectively.
The BLS is set to release inflation data for November on Thursday, after not doing so for October because of the 43-day government shutdown.
Last week in Pennsylvania, the president kicked off a domestic tour to tout his administration’s economic agenda and slam Democratic messaging on affordability as a “hoax.” Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City focused on kitchen tables issues such as cost of living en route to victories in November.
“They always have a hoax. Their new word is affordability. So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability,’” Trump said mockingly.
The president will also address the nation from the White House on Wednesday evening. In a Tuesday post on his Truth Social platform announcing the speech, Trump said, “It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
But despite Trump’s rhetoric, the latest Quinnipiac data indicates that Americans are still concerned about affordability. More than 6 in 10 respondents said they think the cost of living in the U.S. today is a very serious problem, while nearly 3 in 10 said it is a somewhat serious problem.
Nearly 30 percent of respondents said it was somewhat or very difficult to afford gas, 34 percent said it was somewhat or very difficult to afford electricity, and 37 percent said it was somewhat or very difficult to afford groceries.
The poll was conducted Dec. 11-15 via phone interviews with 1,035 self-identified registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
