President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump speaks at the Golden Age of American Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2026. An exit poll found that 44% of voters in Tuesday's midterm elections said they were financially worse off than in 2024. Getty Images

Nearly half of Americans who voted in Tuesday's midterm elections said they were financially worse off than two years ago, a sharp change in political fortunes for President Donald Trump, whose promises to tackle inflation and lower living costs helped return him to the White House in 2024.

An exit poll conducted for CBS News found that 44% of voters believed their financial situation had deteriorated since the last presidential election. Another 38% said their finances were about the same, while just 18% reported being better off.

Democrats captured both chambers of Congress, making gains in several states Trump carried two years earlier. The CBS poll found that 65% of voters believed his policies had made economic conditions worse, with the economy ranking among the leading issues influencing their decisions.

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In 2024, the picture was different. An Associated Press VoteCast survey of more than 120,000 voters found that Trump performed particularly well among Americans struggling with everyday expenses. He won more than half of voters who were very concerned about food, housing and healthcare costs and made gains among lower- and middle-income households.

Two years later, financially struggling voters shifted toward Democrats by approximately 30 percentage points compared with 2024, according to an analysis of NORC survey data involving more than 90,000 voters by The Washington Post. The comparison covers two different electorates rather than tracking the same voters over time.

Consumer prices rose 3.7% in the 12 months ending in September, accelerating from 3.4% in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Energy costs accounted for some of the sharpest increases. Gasoline prices climbed 34.2% from a year earlier, while fuel oil surged 74.2%. Electricity prices rose 4.4%, and natural gas prices increased 5%.

The war with Iran has added pressure to energy markets, leaving motorists facing substantially higher fuel costs. Food prices also increased 2.5% over the year, while shelter costs rose 3.2%, adding to price increases households had already absorbed in previous years.

Paychecks offered little relief in September. Labor Department figures showed real average hourly and weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, both fell 0.5% from August. Compared with a year earlier, hourly earnings were down 0.7%, while weekly earnings slipped 0.1%.

That meant wages were losing ground to rising consumer prices during the period, even as nominal pay continued to increase.

The labor market offered a mixed picture. The unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with employers adding just 29,000 jobs. Private employers added 86,000 positions in October, according to payroll processor ADP.

Dissatisfaction with Trump's handling of the economy had been building before the election. A Pew Research Center survey conducted between September 28 and October 4 found that 65% of U.S. adults believed his policies had made economic conditions worse, up from 52% in January.

Even Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had become less positive. The share saying Trump's policies had improved the economy fell from 57% in January to 39% in October, while those saying conditions had worsened rose from 18% to 35%.

Concerns about everyday expenses crossed party lines. Pew found that 74% of Americans were very concerned about gasoline and energy prices, 73% about food and consumer goods, 69% about healthcare costs and 66% about housing.

Trump has defended his economic agenda, including tariffs intended to support American manufacturing and protect domestic industries. But Republican optimism about those tariffs has also declined.

In January, 49% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents expected the tariffs to have a mostly positive effect on the country. By October, that figure had fallen to 40%, while the share expecting a mostly negative impact increased from 17% to 26%, according to Pew.

Looking ahead, just 26% of Americans surveyed by Pew expected economic conditions to improve over the following year. Another 34% expected little change, while 39% anticipated conditions would worsen.

An AP-NORC survey released in October had already found that 85% of voters considered the economy an important election issue, with nearly as many, 84%, citing the cost of living.