Rising household cost pressures as the primary driver of Trump’s declining approval ratings

On December 17, 2025, Donald Trump delivered a prime-time television address in which he emphasized that the cost-of-living problems experienced by American households were caused by his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump stressed that he is on the path to solving many of the issues he campaigned on, including migration and inflation.

In the political dimension, this means that the Republican Party enters the midterm election campaign without a protective layer of economic optimism, as tariff experiments have ceased to be associated with future growth and are perceived as a source of daily pressure.

For Trump, this trajectory fixes a strategic trap—continuing the policy of monetary compensations without changing the economic course increases the risk of inflationary escalation, while abandoning them exposes the scale of dissatisfaction among his own electorate.