A recent Yale Youth Poll revealed that the cost of living/affordability was the key concern for voters as they chose their pick for the 2028 Presidential elections—echoing voters’ demands before the 2024 elections.
Some 88% of the 3,426 registered voters polled for the study were worried about the rising cost of living.
Their concerns aren’t far off: In September, before we saw the impact of the government shutdown, NPR reported that grocery prices rose the most in nearly 3 years, and it hasn’t gotten any better yet.
Highlights
- Yale Youth Poll found 88% of voters worry about the rising cost of living ahead of the 2028 elections, reflecting ongoing affordability concerns.
- A viral post showed a Thanksgiving dinner costing $51 more in 2025 than 2024, sparking both sympathy and backlash online.
- Despite Trump's claims of lowering prices, a CNN poll shows 6 in 10 people believe his policies worsened U.S. economic conditions.
- Experts link price hikes to Trump’s tariffs and immigration crackdowns, increasing costs in food supply chains and labor.
As the cost of living continues to increase, Trump supporters are complaining online
Image credits: Ben Hasty/Getty Images
New polls also show that President Donald Trump is facing the sharpest slump of his second term, as voters turn away from him on the very issues that built his political brand.
As he repeatedly keeps claiming, “We’ve got prices way down,” Americans, including MAGA voters, don’t seem to agree.
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
One such Trump voter’s post is going viral online, but for all the wrong reasons. “I did my shopping for Thanksgiving dinner this week and went back to my Kroger app to pull my receipt for the same exact dinner last Thanksgiving,” the user begins saying, before showing the price difference: “Total 2024: $261.74 in 2024” versus “Total 2025: $312.88.”
“Mr.President, this is NOT what I voted for,” they concluded.
Image credits: LeopardsAteMyFace/Reddit
While most people would agree on the first half of the issue, many criticized and mocked the user for saying this is not what they voted for.
“Actually it is, you were just too stupid to realize that,” said one direct Reddit commenter.
Another said, “I love how these f*****g idiots ignored every expert ever, but believe the most obvious conman in history.”
Image credits: LeopardsAteMyFace/Reddit
“What she means to say is: ‘I buried my head up my a** when people told me this was going to happen’” a third user wrote.
Some made memes about it, including one titled, ‘Cult of the Stove Touchers,’ featuring two individuals with their hands on a stove, as they cry out in pain.
A meme showed people crying with their hands on a burning red stove while calling higher prices patriotic
Image credits: Reddit
The caption reads, “King’s Decree #1: Redhats Love Tariffs Now!” As they continue to hold their hands on of the burning red stove, they say, “Jokes on you, libtards!” and “We wanted high prices! It’s patriotic!”
Another meme featured a “formal reminder” designed as an invitation that said, “A Formal Reminder: you voted for this. You are getting what you deserve.”
Image credits: LeopardsAteMyFace/Reddit
One user pointed out the irony between the MAGA voters’ claims versus Fox News’ report that Thanksgiving has become cheaper this year. Fox News reported on data from Wells Fargo and the American Farm Bureau Federation, noting that since the price of turkeys has gone down this year, the overall cost of a traditional meal decreased by 3% to 6%.
“Wait a minute, are you telling me Fox ‘News’ lied when they said Thanksgiving dinner was actually cheaper this year?” the Reddit user wrote.
But this user really got to the heart of why onlookers were frustrated by the MAGA rant: “It’s difficult to pity Trump voters when their common thread is ‘I knew he’d f**k people over, I just didn’t think it would be me.’”
Image credits: LeopardsAteMyFace/Reddit
This is not the first of this kind of criticism. Reddit’s r/LeopardsAteMyFace community is a forum dedicated to discussing people suffering the consequences of their own political choices.
While inflation is an issue Trump inherited from the Biden administration, his denial of its current reality has frustrated citizens.
Just like the Yale poll, affordability was one of the biggest issues for Americans to lose faith in the Biden administration, and was a key determining factor in the 2024 presidential election.
Image credits: Yale Youth Poll
Trump had also campaigned on the promise to reduce grocery prices. But, a recent CNN poll revealed that about 6 in 10 people feel Trump’s policies have worsened U.S. economic conditions instead.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery costs have risen 1.4% since Trump took office, and inflation has risen to its highest annual rate, 3%, since January.
On Saturday, Trump issued an executive order directing the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to establish task forces on anti-competitive behavior in the food supply chain.
A poll showed that 6 in 10 people feel Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the U.S.
Image credits: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
It looks at “whether control of food-related industries by foreign entities is increasing the cost of food products in the United States or creating a national or economic security threat to Americans.”
However, the core reasons behind price hikes go beyond competitive behavior in the food supply.
David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, told USA Today that increasing prices are a result of Trump’s tariffs. Apparel and textiles have risen between 8% and 17%, and some grocery items have climbed as much as 25% since the tariffs took effect.
Ortega said the increase could be because of “crackdowns in immigration policies” and on undocumented farmworkers, causing the cost of labor to increase.