The economy has gone from one of the president’s best issues with American voters to one of his worst.
Every election is about “affordability” in one way or another, but recent cycles have given us remarkably blunt messaging on the issue from both sides of the aisle. Republicans and Democrats are arguing over how to reduce the cost of living, not whether it’s necessary.
Donald Trump was re-elected last year after promising to bring down prices that had risen to record levels under his predecessor. Democrat Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist, was elected mayor of New York last month after making a similar pitch to voters. Both parties are poised to double down on affordability in next year’s midterm elections. It won’t be the only issue—immigration and identity politics aren’t going away—but pocketbook concerns will dominate because both sides believe they have the upper hand.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal (paywall)
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Jason L. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and a Fox News commentator. Follow him on Twitter here.
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