MIAMI – Hours after voters in key races elected Democrats who promised to address cost of living increases, President Donald Trump issued a laundry list of statistics projecting the economy’s strength.
“Our opponents are offering an economic nightmare. We are delivering an economic miracle,” the president said during remarks at the America Business Forum in Miami. “Energy prices are down, interest rates are down. … Day by day, we’re making America affordable again.”
But according to CNN exit polls, voters in some of this year’s marquee races don’t feel it. They cited economic issues — taxes, cost of living or the economy as a whole — as their top concern and rewarded Democrats who hammered an economic message on the trail.
Less than 40 percent of voters in New Jersey, New York City and California said their economy is excellent or good. Fifty-eight percent of voters in Virginia, however, said the commonwealth’s economy is good or excellent.
The speech crystallized a key vulnerability for Republicans in Tuesday’s contest and ahead of the 2026 midterms: Economic indicators may project strength on paper, but consumers are not feeling it. Several key Trump allies internalized that feedback on Wednesday morning. It’s a problem that has plagued several recent presidents who struggled to balance confidence in statistics without undermining how consumers feel.
Trump touted an influx of American jobs and a surging stock market, saying America has the “greatest economy” but that “a lot of people don’t see that.”
“It’s really easy to win elections when you talk about the facts,” the president said, a reference to the candidates in Tuesday’s contests. “We have more people working now than in any time in the history of our country. … These are things you have to talk about. If people don’t talk about them, then you can do not so well in the elections.”
Trump claimed Wednesday that “grocery prices are way down,” but according to the Consumer Price Index, that is not the case. Prices rose 0.3 percent from August to September, following a 0.6 percent jump from July to August, the biggest month-to-month jump in three years.
Average grocery prices in September were about 2.7 percent higher than they were a year prior, according to CPI, and about 1.4 percent higher than they were in January.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that a majority of Americans say they are spending more on groceries and utilities than they were a year ago. Seven in 10 Americans say their grocery costs have gone up under Trump’s watch, while about 6 in 10 say their utility costs have gone up.
Roughly 6 in 10 Americans blamed Trump “a great deal” or “a good amount” for the current rate of inflation and rising prices, according to the poll.
Trump also honed in on gasoline prices during his remarks, saying, without evidence, that prices at the pump have “plummeted to the lowest in two decades,” adding that Americans will soon see $2 per gallon gasoline prices.
Kimberly Leonard reported from Miami.
