As the holidays roll in, Americans are feeling less jolly about the man in the White House who they see as spending more time cozying up to billionaires than dealing with an inflation crunch that’s draining family budgets.
While President Donald Trump brags about locking down trillions in new investments from booming tech corporations, most Americans are experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store. Trump’s deal-making is less of their concern.
Inflation and the cost of living are the leading sources of dissatisfaction for Trump’s administration, according to the latest Daily Mail/J.L./Partners online poll of roughly 1,250 US registered voters.
Those twin issues, along with healthcare, are threatening to unravel Trump’s second term as it head into its second year.
‘Affordability will be the buzzword of the 2026 election cycle,’ 917 Strategies founder and former GOP House aide Sarah Selip told the Daily Mail.
Inversely, respondents were least concerned with cryptocurrency, small business regulations, artificial intelligence and energy policy – all of which the president has spent significant time and effort on.
The reticence over the lack of cash comes as the interests of blue-collar and white-collar workers have largely been replaced with those of tuxedo-wearing titans who get invited to White House soirees.
Since September, the president has had at least four executive actions related to AI; he has also attended at least three tuxedo-laden dinner parties with executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook and world leaders such as Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and the UK’s King Charles.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and President Donald Trump during a dinner with tech leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025
The latest Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll found that the top concern of Americans is the rising cost of living. Respondents were least concerned with AI, crypto, infrastructure and energy, all topics Trump has recently devoted a lot of time to
But voters don’t care about AI, crypto, small business regulations or infrastructure, the Daily Mail/JL Partners survey found. Those initiatives rank as the four lowest priorities among survey respondents.
‘Voters are frustrated,’ Brittany Martinez, executive director of the right-leaning political firm Principles First, told the Daily Mail. ‘While the administration touts billion-dollar announcements and high-profile corporate deals, most Americans are focused on far more basic needs: whether they can afford groceries, gas, and a good life.’
However, the White House was quick to blame the previous Democratic administration for consumer pricing woes.
‘After four years of economic calamity under Biden, American families will continue to feel economic relief in the months ahead as the positive effects of massive tax cuts, deregulation, and energy dominance continue to materialize,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail/J.L. Partners survey also found several other critical signals that may spell concern for Republicans with a year until the midterms.
Trump matched his worst disapproval rating so far, 55 percent, as Vice President JD Vance and the rest of the Cabinet all saw declines in favorability.
‘Through a combination of the shutdown, and one year on from the election, voters seem to have turned around and asked: ‘am I better off than I was a year ago?’. The answer for many – going by this poll – is no, or even that things have got worse,’ J..L. Partners founder James Johnson told the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, the approval rating for the Democratic Party and its top 2028 champions, like California Governor Gavin Newsom, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former VP Kamala Harris, has ticked up.
The latest survey found that California Governor Gavin Newsom would beat VP JD Vance in a 2028 matchup 43 percent to 36 percent with the remainder unsure or not willing to vote. The results indicate voters are warming to progressive candidates, as ex-VP Kamala Harris and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would also beat Vance
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump, Apple CEO Tim Cook and VP JD Vance in the Oval Office in August
All three of the aforementioned liberals would, at least at this moment, beat Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a hypothetical 2028 head-to-head matchup, the poll data showed.
‘When families feel squeezed and Washington seems disconnected from their day-to-day reality, they naturally start exploring alternatives,’ Martinez said. ‘The growing openness to progressive candidates in this poll is beyond ideology — it’s about urgency.’
If the GOP takes its eyes off the proverbial affordability ball, it could strike out during the midterms. Democrats only need to flip three seats in the House and four in the Senate to take control of Congress.
‘American families across the political spectrum are experiencing a growing sense of economic hopelessness,’ Republican strategist Tristan Shakespeare told the Daily Mail.
‘When the average household can no longer afford groceries, housing, healthcare, and other basic essentials without falling further behind, it’s inevitable that people start searching for alternatives. Many feel abandoned by a system that claims to prioritize the broad public but consistently fails to deliver.’
And that, he says, is leading to a rise in dissident political figures on the left and right.
‘This disillusionment is fueling demands for systemic change—manifesting as calls for National Socialism from figures like Nick Fuentes on the right and Democratic Socialism from leaders like Zohran Mamdani on the left.’
The president’s 2024 campaign focused heavily on driving down prices that ticked up under former President Joe Biden, but so far, consumers have yet to register the savings. The poll found that Democrats are more trusted on cost-of-living policies than Republicans.
‘He made massive, huge promises that everything was going to get better and that everything was Joe Biden’s everything was Joe Biden’s fault, that over the course of the last year, people have watched him spend more time on vanity projects and enriching himself than actually delivering for the American people,’ said Democratic strategist Mike Nellis.
While the White House adds a new massive ballroom to host larger parties for its tuxedo-wearing allies, at a cost estimated to be around $300 million, voters remain frustrated with everyday prices.
The White House did not return the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
