WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has received solemn warnings from voters that he cannot address their fears about a deteriorating U.S. economy.
Democrats prevailed in key elections across the country on Tuesday, in part by tapping into the same populist fervor that helped Trump re-elect a year ago – but also by focusing on the kitchen table problems the Republican wanted to solve. Now in office, worries about the economy have made Trump the source of public discontent.
“We learned a lot.” Trump confirmed this on Wednesday. He later posted online: “Affordability is our goal.”
This followed voters citing economic concerns as a top issue in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections, the New York City mayoral race and the California ballot measure. Democrats won those elections, and it was arduous to point to any major race in which Republicans won a decisive victory.
The turnaround compared to the previous year was drastic.
Back then, voters sent Trump back to the White House with promises that he could quickly reduce inflation, boost factory hiring and shower the country with modern wealth through steep tariffs he imposed on U.S. allies around the world.
Instead, voters are now expressing concern that high prices for food, utility bills and housing are taking a toll on their bank accounts. Trump has defiantly insisted he has strengthened the economy. So, aside from his early reactions, it is not clear that he will internalize the need to address the same inflationary challenges that became a burden for his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
The elections largely took place in areas that have favored Democrats recently, so there are limits to interpreting what the results could mean for next year’s broader midterm elections. But the size of the Democratic vote showed how frustrated there was about the economic situation under Trump.
“People have 401(k)s.”
There is little sign that the public has much confidence in Trump’s claims of a “golden age” in the US, nor in his claim that inflation has been beaten into submission. Recently, Trump pressed Americans still concerned about high food prices, pointing to the stock market.
“Look, 401(k)s. People have 401(k)s,” the president said in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday. Trump said food prices are falling, but the latest inflation report shows they rose 2.7% from a year ago.
Overall, consumer prices rose 3% over the past 12 months, higher than the rate before Trump’s election victory in 2024. The Federal Reserve is targeting inflation at 2%.
A senior Trump political adviser told Politico on Wednesday that the election showed the importance of focusing on the cost of living. “Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well last night? He focused relentlessly on affordability,” James Blair said in the interview, adding that Trump also planned to focus on prices in his messaging.
While the stock market is on the rise and things are looking good for tech executives investing in artificial intelligence, hiring slowed sharply this summer after Trump implemented his tariffs.
The AP voter poll showed that concerns about the economy helped Democrats on Tuesday.
About half of Virginia voters said “the economy” was the top issue, and about six in 10 of those voters elected Democrat Abigail Spanberger as governor, helping her to a decisive victory.
In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won about two-thirds of voters who called “the economy” the state’s biggest problem. Republican Jack Ciattarelli secured about six in 10 New Jersey voters who said the top issue was “taxes.”
More than half of New York voters said the cost of living was the city’s top issue, and Democrat Zohran Mamdani won about two-thirds of that group.
Slightly less than half of California voters said “the economy” was the state’s top issue, and about two-thirds of those voters supported Prop 50. Approval of the measure allows Democrats to make congressional maps in the nation’s largest state more favorable to their party and keep pace with Republicans who have moved to create potential modern red House seats in Texas and elsewhere.
“I don’t think it was good for the Republicans.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s election, Trump’s messaging focused on mass deportations of illegal immigrants in the country and on reducing crime by deploying National Guard troops to Democratic-run cities. But the AP voter poll found that few of those who voted considered crime or immigration a top priority.
Trump did not actively campaign for his party before Election Day 2025. With the votes still being counted, he was already dodging blame and announcing that he “DIDN’T STAND ON THE BALLOT.”
When Trump received Senate Republicans at the White House the morning after, he was more thoughtful. “Last night we didn’t expect it to be a win,” he said.
“I don’t think it was good for the Republicans,” Trump said. “I’m not sure if it was good for anyone, but we had an interesting evening and learned a lot.”
Later in Florida, Trump laid out his economic achievements before an audience of business leaders and athletes, saying: “We have the greatest economy right now. A lot of people don’t see that.”
He suggested that his supporters simply need to talk more about favorable economic statistics and then voters will assume the economy is recovering. This strategy is similar to the Biden administration’s strategy without ever changing public opinion.
“It’s really easy to win elections when you talk about the facts,” Trump said.
However, instead of offering modern ideas, Trump’s speech in Miami fell back on familiar themes such as fighting crime, opposing transgender rights and enforcing tough immigration policies. He even added, “We lost a little sovereignty last night in New York” because of Mamdani’s victory.
Repeating his greatest political achievements despite Tuesday’s results was not what Vice President JD Vance suspected after the election. “We will continue to work to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that is the standard by which we will ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond,” Vance wrote on X.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate and Trump ally who is now running for governor of Ohio in 2026, offered similar — and so far largely unheeded — advice to his own party.
“Our side needs to focus on affordability,” Ramaswamy said in a video posted online. “Make the American dream affordable. Reduce costs, electricity costs, food costs, health care costs, housing costs. And lay out how we’re going to get there.”
