The public's dissatisfaction with affordability was a driving force behind the Democratic victories in last week's state and local contests, and additionally, concerns about the employment landscape are growing among Americans.
TL;DR
- Many Americans worry about job loss, with 55% expressing concern due to company layoffs.
- Job cut announcements are at their highest in over two decades, increasing household frustration.
- Economic data and voter sentiment suggest weakening trends, posing a risk for Republicans.
- The administration is considering strategies to address cost of living concerns and boost economic messaging.
Approximately 55% of working Americans express worry about potential job loss, as revealed by a recent Harris Poll commissioned by Bloomberg News. This apprehension stems from a continuous stream of layoff announcements from prominent companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Target Corp., and Starbucks Corp. Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement consultancy, reported the highest number of job cut announcements for An October in over two decades.
This adds to the frustration households already feel about the cost of living. According to a poll conducted from October 23-25, a 62% majority reported that the price of their daily necessities had risen in the past month, with almost half of those individuals stating that these increases were hard to manage financially.
President Donald Trump and his advisors have countered by framing economic data favorably and shifting blame, strategies President Joe Biden also employed unsuccessfully, while also promising improvements. The danger lies in the possibility that if the job market and inflation don't improve sufficiently for voters' satisfaction, Republicans could lose their grip on Congress during the upcoming midterm elections.
“The Biden administration really was a cautionary tale about trying to convince voters that the economy is better than their intuitions suggest,” said Tobin Marcus, head of US policy and politics at Wolfe Research and a former adviser to Biden during his vice presidency.
Part of the challenge for Trump and his team is their economic program “is not squarely aimed at the pain points that are most important” to voters, Marcus said. The president has championed the steepest tariff hikes since before World War II to shrink the trade deficit and encourage a re-shoring of manufacturing.
“They are seeing misplaced priorities,” Marcus said. “No one’s making an argument that the tariffs will bring prices down, which is the thing that voters first and foremost elected him to do.”
Back in March, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would appoint an “affordability” czar, but no such announcement has been made. The White House did not respond to questions about the position, but spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that “the Trump administration is confident that the disastrous Biden economy will be a relic of the past as we continue to make America affordable again.”
Lately, Bessent has taken to playing up how good things will get next year, when he says the impact of Trump’s signature tax-cut legislation will be felt. Billions of dollars worth of tax refunds will be flowing, and job gains will come from the surge of investment in artificial intelligence, he said Tuesday on MSNBC.
A White House official stated that Trump's advisors are contemplating strategies for the president to deliver additional speeches nationwide concerning the cost of living. Trump has undertaken comparatively limited domestic travel to promote his agenda when contrasted with his recent predecessors.
‘Ominous’ Signs
Currently, a significant portion of Americans remain unconvinced by the administration's story. According to the Harris Poll, 48% of those surveyed indicated it would require four months or more to secure comparable employment if they were to lose their present position. This poll surveyed 2,203 adults and had a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.
Job gains have decreased, with payroll increases dropping from an average of 168,000 monthly last year to a mere 27,000 from May to August, the latest period with available information. Inflation continues to exceed the Federal Reserve's 2% objective.
The tariffs implemented by Trump's administration have fueled price increases and created business uncertainty, thereby discouraging hiring. Furthermore, substantial reductions in federal programs by the same administration have resulted in numerous federal employees losing their jobs and have negatively impacted contractors.
“A number of signs, including the most recent consumer sentiment survey, suggest that the economy and the labor market are weakening,” said Michael Reich, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “If those trends continue, the party in power will be blamed. That’s ominous for the Republicans in the midterms.”
Job Pledges
Consumer confidence dipped to near historic lows in early November, as indicated by a University of Michigan survey. Likewise, a report from The Federal Reserve Bank of New York in October survey revealed that the proportion of Americans anticipating an increase in the unemployment rate within the next year climbed for the third consecutive month.
The administration has said the economy will turn in coming months.
“We are building auto plants, we’re building AI plants, we’re leading in AI over China and everybody else,” Trump said at a White House event Nov. 6. “When all of these plants start opening, we’re going to have a revolution — a positive revolution — economic revolution like never before.”
The return of manufacturing jobs from abroad “is just starting,” Bessent said Tuesday, citing hiring plans at Boeing Co. And a new rare-earth manufacturing site.
Regarding the cost of living, the Treasury secretary indicated that “we inherited an affordability crisis,” and rising wages for the working class will contribute to resolving the problem.
Trump has been more pointed, lashing out at his party in recent days over lackluster messaging on the economy, which he blamed in part for their string of losses in the election. He’s also pitched some unorthodox ideas, such as $2,000 “dividend” payments to Americans from tariff revenue.
The president has also rejected the notion that living expenses are rising, pointing to a decrease in gasoline prices. On Thursday, he asserted “Thanksgiving dinner under Trump is 25% lower than 2024 Thanksgiving dinner under Biden,” referencing a report from Walmart Inc. Measure which found fewer items within 2025.
“The Democrats ‘affordability’ issue is DEAD! STOP LYING!!!” He posted on social media.