Donald Trump won his way back into the White House on a claim that he would address Americans’ deep-seated economic pain. Months into his second term, the president’s reckless approach to tariffs and relentless dismantling of federal investments are driving up prices on everything from clothing and baby strollers to doctors visits and student loans.
To better understand how Americans are responding to Trump’s failed promise, the organization I lead, The Century Foundation, recently partnered with Morning Consult to ask more than 2,000 voters a range of questions about their financial well-being and what would make their lives better. The findings, which haven’t been released before now, show that families are feeling intense financial pressure and are desperately looking for relief. But Americans don’t just want leaders who promise lower prices at the grocery store; they want leaders committed to fixing the rigged system that made their lives so unaffordable in the first place.
Our survey revealed that more than four in five Americans are concerned about groceries, half are worried about affording their rent or mortgage, and two-thirds worry about their ability to pay an unexpected medical expense. An alarmingly high number of families are being forced to make difficult, at times drastic, decisions to make ends meet. In the past year, 41 percent of adults dipped into their savings just to cover the basics. Nearly two in five resorted to paying bills with a credit card, while three in 10 accumulated new debt to afford necessities. And, in the wealthiest nation on earth, one in every four Americans say they or someone in their household has skipped meals in the last year to save money.
Despite the circus-like news cycles coming out of the White House, the president’s role in creating this economic catastrophe is not lost on the public. A whopping 60 percent of Americans told us that Donald Trump has made their cost of living worse, and many worry that he will make it harder for them to pay their bills. Nearly eight in 10, including more than two-thirds of Republicans, are concerned that Trump’s tariffs will raise prices on everyday goods like clothing and appliances.
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The level of financial distress we’re observing is deeply concerning — both for what it means for individuals and for what it means for the future of our economy — and it demands real and aggressive intervention. It also presents an enormous opportunity for those who have a clear diagnosis of how we got here and where we should go.
Already, politicians on the left and the right are decrying the high cost of living in America. Even conservatives like Tucker Carlson are sounding the alarm on mounting credit card debt and the increasing difficulty of homeownership. But Americans want more than speeches and policy plans to drive down the cost of eggs. They want leaders who they can trust to make their concerns a priority — and they want accountability for those who have rigged the playing field in order to drive prices up, keep wages down, and extract profits at every turn.
Unlike some policy advocates and experts, Americans don’t view government red tape or bloated bureaucracy as the key obstacle to making change. Instead, our research shows that a majority think the biggest barrier is billionaires and wealthy corporations that stand in the way of progress. Nearly 80 percent think the federal government should prioritize prosecuting companies that collude to raise prices, holding companies accountable for inflating drug prices, and preventing businesses from taking advantage of consumers and workers. Similar numbers want to increase taxes on the wealthy.
This might help explain why campaigns like Zohran Mamdani’s have captured so much support from New Yorkers and people across the country — and so much opposition from wealthy and powerful interests. Mamdani’s policy platform is deeply focused on affordability, and he does not shy away from calling out the role that the wealthy and corporations play in making life unaffordable. His approach to housing, for example, addresses both the need to build more affordable units and also crack down on shady landlords.
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As a former federal regulator, I have seen firsthand how corporations use their outsized power over regular people — whether that’s cheating them on student loans, jacking up credit card interest rates, or forcing them to pay medical debts they do not owe. I have also seen how government programs that ought to help people can be turned into boondoggles that enrich private companies.
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We cannot really tackle the cost of living crisis facing American families if we do not address the ways in which the wealthy and powerful benefit from squeezing average families. Americans understand this, and we need leaders who understand it too.
Julie Margetta Morgan is president of The Century Foundation, a leading nonpartisan think tank. She is a former senior official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and at the U.S. Department of Education.
