December 11, 2025 12:14 PM UTC

Republicans Are in Trouble with Trump's "Affordability Hoax" Narrative

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump has been working really hard trying to convince Americans that the economy is rolling and prices are down and you should stop complaining about the cost of goods because you’re wrong.

It’s not working, and Republicans are justifiably getting nervous.

As The Washington Post reported on Tuesday:

“We inherited the highest prices ever, and we’re bringing them down,” he said several times.

“We’re getting inflation — we’re crushing it, and you’re getting much higher wages,” he said. “I mean, the only thing that is really going up big, it’s called the stock market and your 401(k).”

While suggesting prices were no longer going up, Trump also ridiculed Democrats for suggesting that voters cared about affordability, an issue that was a focus of their successful campaigns last month in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City.

As part of Trump’s effort to convince you to ignore your lying wallet, he has repeatedly brought up his belief that concerns about affordability are a Democratic hoax. Trump even keeps insisting that Democrats invented the word “affordability”:

“They said, ‘Oh, he doesn’t realize prices are higher.’ Prices are coming down very substantially,” Trump said. “But they have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability. So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability.’”

Trump may actually believe that prices are down simply because people close to him insist that this is the case; it’s not as though Trump is spending any time shopping himself, so he has no actual reference point to support his rhetoric.

But polls continue to tell a much different story. From The Associated Press:

President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially since March, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the 2026 midterms.

Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term. [Pols emphasis] The Republican president also has struggled to recover from public blowback on other issues, such as his management of the federal government, and has not seen an approval bump even after congressional Democrats effectively capitulated to end a record-long government shutdown last month.

The Republican base is even losing patience:

About 7 in 10 Republicans, 69%, approve of how Trump is handling the economy in the December poll, a decline from 78% in March.

This AP/NORC poll is not an outlier, either. Here’s more from Navigator Research today:

♦ Overwhelming majorities continue to say the costs of groceries, housing, utilities, and health care are on the rise. The share of Americans believing health care costs are rising has increased by 10-points in less than a year.

♦ A majority of Americans have carried a credit card balance in the past year, and a quarter have used a “buy now, pay later” tool.

♦ Trump and Republicans in Congress are blamed the most for costs rising by a 21-point margin, though independents say both parties are equally to blame.

The political ramifications of Trump and Congressional Republicans sitting on their hands on economic issues should have been obvious after the November 2025 elections. The hits just keep on coming. On Tuesday, Democrats flipped a red state house seat in a special election in Georgia. The bigger upset took place further south, as The Washington Post explains:

Miami will have its first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years, after the city elected former county commissioner Eileen Higgins on Tuesday in a contest that attracted attention from President Donald Trump and national Democrats…

…The race largely centered on local issues such as the city’s lack of affordable housing and property taxes. Both candidates were vocal in their rejection of corruption and political dynasties that have dominated Miami’s City Hall for decades. [Pols emphasis]

Hmmm…sound familiar?

While many Republicans have been voicing concerns about Trump’s refusal to even acknowledge economic concerns, it’s not all the fault of the Big Orange Guy. As The New York Times reports today:

The Senate on Thursday deadlocked on competing proposals to avert rising health care premiums, blocking Democratic and Republican alternatives in an outcome that made it all but certain that expanded tax subsidies for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act will expire at the end of the month.

Republicans squelched a bid by Democrats, who had demanded action on the issue during the 43-day government shutdown, to extend the insurance subsidies for three years…

…Republicans had committed to allowing Democrats a vote on their proposal to extend the health care subsidies as a condition of a deal to end the government shutdown.

The G.O.P., which has struggled for years to coalesce around a health care plan, had considered not offering an alternative to the Democratic proposal. But party leaders faced pressure to put a plan forward so Republicans could say they had tried something to address the expiring tax subsidies. [Pols emphasis]

Senate Republicans keep saying that they are pushing back against a “bloated” federal program in the Affordable Care Act, but Americans who are seeing massive health insurance rate increases aren’t going to care about that one bit. The only thing Americans will remember in November 2026 is that everything has become less affordable since Republicans took control of the federal government.

What we’re seeing from Trump and Congressional Republicans is a strange conviction that they can just wave their hand in front of your face and convince you that up is down and left is right and your wallet or purse is overflowing with money.

That’s not a political strategy we would want to rely on in 2026.